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There are going to be a ton of Commander news in the next few weeks as we approach the release of the Commander product. You’ll see some old reprinted that we’ll be happy to see in cardboard once again. But most likely you’ll be most excited for the never-before-printed cards.
Especially the new Commanders.
I’m going to be taking a look at the five Commanders that I haven’t talked about before (I spoke about Nin, the Pain Artist in a piece a few months back). These are not all of the ones we’re going to get; I believe that we currently have about one-third of the expected new Commanders.
Because this is a standalone product, WotC doesn’t have to worry about Standard/Extended/Modern (If Modern is real, it gets my thumbs-up). Yes, this is your friendly reminder that unless a card is currently printed in a legal set for a format, you cannot play these cards in your deck. You can’t stick Death by Dragons in your FNM deck; sorry. However, this release is legal for Legacy and Vintage, so go nuts.
Back to my original point: Wizards is going to try some new things with this set. Because this is focused on multiplayer, I’m sure you will see some wacky things never seen on cards; I point to the “Each player chose War or Peace” text on Archangel of Strife. There is one new Commander that makes you question your sanity with all of the rules it breaks.
Let’s get to the new toys.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
The first of the new Commanders previewed (we first saw this guy when the product was announced), he’s also been the only one that’s been mythic. This is leading me to believe that the tricolored enemy shard Commanders will be mythic, while the other Commanders will be rare. Not that it really matters in a set like this, but the fans of wacky formats might care.
He’s finally that Centaur you need for your Centaur theme deck (if you’re curious, it’s a pretty impressive twenty-six that can legally fit in that deck). All right, fine, you’re looking for “practical applications” with this Commander. Of course the benefits of Karador are twofold: The more creatures you have in your graveyard, the cheaper he is to cast, and you can recast a creature in your graveyard once a turn. This is insanely awesome, but also a huge liability with the deck. We’ll get to that in a minute.
The obvious thing to do is to dump creatures into your graveyard so you can cast Karador early and recast creatures. Green and Black are home to the Dredge mechanic (Golgari Grave-Troll being the best dredger) and it’s a perfect fit into that deck since you have a good number of creature dredgers (which makes Karador cost 
less). The scourge of antishufflers everywhere—Survival of the Fittest and its creature equal of Fauna Shaman—put the creature you want into the graveyard. Hey, I would love to even see Morality Shift in this type of deck, allowing you to just pick and choose which creatures you want.
After you’ve gotten creatures in your graveyard (even just playing Wrath of God puts creatures in your graveyard anyway), you’ll want to know what cards to recast. While I think this suite of cards is what is going to set variations of this deck apart, I’m sure you’re going to see the same creatures over and over:
Oh, and the occasional really large creature that likes to get reanimated, like Akroma or It That Betrays.
Of course, the huge downfall is if people remove your graveyard. Awkward. There are plenty of colorless options to play, such as Relic of Progenitus and Tormod's Crypt. I would advise people to put something like this in their decks if they don’t already. Players already use the graveyard for fun and combos anyway, but this just serves as a good reminder to make sure you have some silver bullet in your deck.
Basandra, Battle Seraph
I have a feeling that she might be one of the least-used Commanders from this set. She’s a good card, but the fact that she says “all players”—not just your opponents—can’t cast spells during combat means you won’t always get the huge benefit. You can still use creature/enchantment/land/artifact abilities, and that’s what you’re going to have to use to get the upper hand. But then you’re losing all that surprise that White/Red loves during combat; I’ve heard of increased usage of Master Warcraft in Commander.
Forcing creatures to attack is a rarely loved ability, but Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs craves it. Norn's Annex and Ghostly Prison don’t; if they have to pay to attack, a creature doesn’t have to attack even if it’s being forced to. But the key with her second ability is that she’s not making the creatures attack you but rather your opponents. By having Moat (Boo! Expensive card!) you can force the creatures to attack other players. Going into a third color, you get Teferi's Moat, which can almost do the same thing.
But then, you’re not using her as a Commander. She’s a great political card, but I’m afraid that she’ll never be a truly great Commander because she needs other colors to make her truly shine. She gives Red/White fans another Commander, but I like her more as a role-player than as a focus.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Now, here’s a fun card to use as your Commander. Getting him out early allow you to be completely political on turn three. When I first read this card I was unimpressed, thinking it was just a creature version of Coastal Piracy. Then a friend told me why he was excited for it:
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to an opponent, its controller draws a card.
Oh. Ohhhhh. “Hey, if you attack Greg instead of me, you get to draw a card.” Suddenly, politics plays a huge part here. Everyone will want to keep him alive, except for the person who is being attacked. Of course, you want to benefit from everyone drawing cards, and the best card available for that is Mind's Eye. Now you are drawing cards at a greater rate that your opponents (but that’s what Mind's Eye is known for anyway).
Group Hug decks will also love him, encouraging players to attack for a benefit. If you’re looking to abuse it, token generation comes to mind. Swinging in with a bunch of tokens (created by the Beacon of Creation you keep drawing), you don’t mind casualties because you’re replacing them with draws anyway. Giving players their own tokens with the cards they draw can also provide fun, and for that I suggest Saproling Cluster.
Suddenly cards like Sleep and Mind Over Matter come into decks to help keep an opponent tapped down so others can attack him to draw cards. And if you’re the one drawing all the cards, being in Blue, I’m sure you can find some way to abuse all the cards in your hand. Or in Green, you’ve got good old Maro.
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Whenever Skullbriar the Walking Grave deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Counters remain on Skullbriar as it moves to any zone other than a player’s hand or library.
Now, here’s something that will blow your mind. Turn two, attack and put a +1/+1 counter on it. Turn three, Contagion Clasp, which will allow you to proliferate to your heart’s desire. Then, when the creature dies, you get to keep the +1/+1 counters on it. As long as it doesn’t get bounced or shuffled into your library, you get to keep the counters on it. Sadly, those two are the best ways to deal with Commanders.
But let’s try and break it. Forgotten Ancient loves this guy, even if you want to put a Lightning Greaves on Skullbriar, because Forgotten Ancient doesn’t target with the +1/+1 counters during your upkeep. If you’re not using Skullbriar as a Commander, Kresh the Bloodbraided will cherish it. Sadistic Glee wants you to kill creatures, something Black does anyway. Ooze Garden has a new friend, especially with Hell's Caretaker. But the creature who loves this guy is Sutured Ghoul. It doesn’t matter if you exile a huge Skullbriar, you still keep the counters on it. Amazing.
Skullbriar is the rare Green Zombie, making a Call to the Grave/Sadistic Glee combo rather fun. Graveborn Muse and Zombie Trailblazer make a great combo with other Zombie tribal cards. Of course, the Elemental part is fun too; Horde of Notions brings back Skullbriar over and over again to keep putting counters on it.
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Sacrifice a creature: Put X +1/+1 counters on Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter where X is the sacrificed creature’s power.
Remove all +1/+1 counters from Vish Kal: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn for each +1/+1 counter removed this way.
Magic’s first White Vampire is really a doozy: a killing machine that sucks the life from your own creatures and kills your opponents with its “bite.” You can keep it as a machine gun and control problem creatures, or you can abuse it for your own good. It’s got Lifelink, and for some reason, I want to add Green.
I’ve been suggesting adding another color to most of the other Commanders for a good reason; you may not want to keep building more and more Commander decks because you just don’t have the cards to do so. Of course, if you’re buying one of these Commander products, you’re getting a ton of cards to build another deck. Fitting it in another deck you’ve got built might just be just as fun. All I’m saying is, just keep your options open.
By adding Green, you get an awesome card that also works with Skullbriar: Doubling Season. Ah, the great Green enchantment that all Johnny and Timmy fans everywhere love. Flying, Lifelink, growing Vampire seems pretty awesome. Speaking of Skullbriar, if you keep sacrificing it to Vish Kal—holy cow, does that grow pretty big! Remember, you have to remove all counters to kill a creature, so the Doubling Season trick won’t work there.
But if you’re sticking with the Black/White combo, you’ve got the great Grave Pact/Butcher of Malakir combo with the sacrificing that you’ll be doing (It That Betrays can also make an appearance). But you’ll be wanting to get those huge creatures that you sacrifice back, so Debtors' Knell is a great fit in that deck. If you’ve got a token-creation suite (Mobilization, etc.), Horobi, Death's Wail means you can now target and kill at will. You just can’t protect Horobi all that well, but by then you’ll have wiped the table clean.
These are only a few of the new Commanders that we’ll be seeing in the upcoming weeks. I’m really excited to see what they have come up with for our pleasure. I can predict that this is not the last time you’ll see some really weird cards and Commanders. With the focus on multiplayer, I would love to see a card like this:
Multiplayer Recall 
Instant – Rare
Target player draws 1 card for each opponent.
Or, maybe not that strong.
Let’s hear what new Commanders you’re excited about and what you’d do with them.
