Welcome back, Lore Seekers! I was originally thinking of passing over Commander Masters, but there's just so much new and flavorful art I had to stop and talk about it.

The New Cards

Guff Rewrites History by Matt Stewart

Each of the new face Commanders got a lore blurb with their decks giving some background, and for the back-up Commanders we can infer a lot.

Zhulodok, Void Gorger is an aspect of Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre released 1,000 years ago as part of the story Stirring From Slumber (although not named). It, along with Ulamog, was responsible for turning the cultists worshipping the Eldrazi into the vampire Bloodchiefs like Rayami, First of the Fallen.

Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate is a Tarkiri Naga with ghostfire power on top of the Crucible of the Spirit Dragon. We don't really know much else about them, other than that they're likely one of the folks who kept the memories of the Khans alive after the Khanfall, or when the dragonlords took over and erased history.

Anikthea, Hand of Erebos was a Setessan warrior and acclaimed monster hunter who fought her way free of the Underworld, and at the precipice of escape made a bargain with Erebos. That bargain was to continue slaying monsters for him as long as she can return to help her people when she is needed most. Narci, Fable Singer is likely from Theros, but we don't know much else.

Commodore Guff is an existing character, you can read a little bit about him here:

For context, Commodore Guff is a planeswalker who literally rewrote the ending of the Phyrexian Invasion so that it was possible for the good guys to win.

I can not stress enough that the attached passages are taken directly from the novel Apocalypse ??? pic.twitter.com/jCnrOeOYzD

— Jay Annelli (@jay13x) February 21, 2023

The gist is that Guff is a 4th wall breaker who knows he's in a story, but he's never talking directly to the audience. He was one of Urza's Nine Titans who attacked Phyrexia, and died rewriting the story so that the good guys could win.

Leori, Sparktouched Hunter is Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast's unnamed cat. If you Heartless Act this card, be prepared for people to hate you forever.

Sliver Gravemother is a new sliver from an unknown plane, so not much extra lore there, but Rukarumel, Biologist is a flavor text character from the Time Spiral block who has a lot to say about slivers.

Vronos, Masked Inquisitor, is a new planeswalker, with both their intro and death in the story The Hunter Cannot Pity. Vronos was originally a nameless avatar for the Duels of the Planeswalker video games, until DotP 2015, where Garruk gives him the axe.

The Commander decks also gave us a bunch of cool art with story moments! Rise of the Eldrazi and Calamity of the Titans depict the three titans at their most devastating. Battle at the Helvault is a saga depicting the plot of the original Innistrad arc, ending with Avacyn Restored (which should have been the name of the token, IMO)! We also got Gatewatch Beacon with the original four members of the Gatewatch: Jace, Gideon, Chandra, and Nissa.

Cacophony Unleashed references a proto-god created by Ashiok in Dreams of the City, that was absorbed by Ephara, God of the Polis. Onakke Oathkeeper is a reference to the Onakke, who famously made the planeswalker-affecting artifact The Chain Veil and depicts one in the Onakke Catacomb. Guff Rewrites History is an attempt to illustrate Guff's silliness visually, which I imagine is tough given he was just rewriting a book, which doesn't lend itself well to visuals.

Lazotep Sliver depicts a sliver on Amonkhet, and while on stream the team may have declared it non-canon, I personally wouldn't have a problem with it if it was. After all, Slivers were around on Dominaria when Bolas departed to go to Amonkhet 60 years ago (the same timeframe Rukarumel is from), so maybe they were an early experiment at eternalizing. Or, maybe they wandered through an Omenpath.

Portrait Cards

Urza, Lord High Artificer by Grant Griffin

The new portrait arts for Legendary Creatures are a neat addition to the art style of Magic. They're pretty clearly inspired by Mike Mitchell's pop culture portraits, which make excellent use of color, with simple monochromatic backgrounds. I don't think all of them work, but the ones that do are absolute gorgeous.

The New Art Reprints

Shelter by Alayna Danner

The term 'cheesecake' refers to women in art depicted in a provocative way, usually with few clothes. Fantasy art often tends to run in that direction, and Magic is no exception. As I scrolled through the Commander Masters gallery, I noticed several reprints that had new art seemingly only, or at least mostly, to address some of this art. In some cases, that's because a plane's art direction has gotten an overhaul, like with Kemba, Kha Regent and Sunspear Shikari. The early Mirrodin art often featured women with... conveniently placed metallic growths. That is obviously a bad idea, especially on a plane where touching the glistening oil meant infection, and so in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, the Mirrans all wore full armor.

Of course, we need to add Sakiko, Mother of Summer to that list, as the rather infamous Kamigawa 'snoobies' are not aligned with modern Kamigawa art direction

Also, Shelter gets rid of the long-sleeved turtleneck with chain panties combo in favor of a Serra Angel. And there are a whole bunch of words I'd never thought I'd have to type.

We also saw a lot of new art for the Shandalar slivers, who were updated to look more like the classic slivers. I personally did not like the original sliver design, but modern art direction has made them much, much better in my opinion.

Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder finally gets a non-time displaced version. Also he's wearing Tourach, Dread Cantor's cloak! Extinguish All Hope seems to have been updated to remove Erebos' exposed rib cage by focusing on Pharika. Personal Tutor has been updated to feature Kasmina, Enigma Sage at Strixhaven, but the full art is pretty great too with Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor lecturing the eponymous Brothers of the Brothers' War.

Extraplanar Lens features a 'view screen' to Capenna, Kaldheim, and Zendikar. Disrupt Decorum features a Strixhaven food fight! But honestly, my favorite flavor is the update of the Ikoria 'free' cycle with borderless legends:

• Flawless Maneuver features Teysa Karlov
• Fierce Guardianship features Narset, Enlightened Exile
• Deadly Rollick features Judith, the Scourge Diva
• Deflecting Swat features Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
• Obscuring Haze features Azusa, Lost But Seeking

With my word count running low, it's time for a Lightning Round of new art reprints worth mentioning.

• Ezuri's Predation is also updated with the ONE art direction.
• Jade Mage is updated for Dominarian saprolings
• Loyal Retainers has been updated to be Benalians
• Bribery has been updated to be on New Capenna
• Exsanguinate is now on Zendikar
• Grave Pact is now on Innistrad
• Skyshroud Claim has been updated to be Llanowar, as Skyshroud no longer exists
• Stonehoof Chieftain has been updated to have a clearer face and body
• Spitebellows has the actual fiery 'bellows' part of its name now
• Meteor Golem has been updated to take place at night, showing a meteor shower
• Frantic Search is a Kamigawa hacker, a very cute flavor change

And that's it for today! Wilds of Eldraine starts soon, and I'll talk all about the flavor and worldbuilding of the plane, and brew some more Flavor Builds in the coming weeks!