Throughout the 2010s, Wizards was trying all kinds of different specialty products. These started with the likes of Archenemy and Planechase and eventually led to draft sets like Conspiracy. This in turn led to the idea of draft innovation sets in general becoming more of a thing, leading to fresh multiplayer takes that led to Battlebond. Battlebond was a unique experience, focusing on two-headed giant - a popular casual variant most often played at prerelease events. As such, this set brings with it lots of unique and interesting designs, meaning there's a whole bunch of cool mythics for us to rank! Let's dive in and get to ranking them!

Number Fifteen

Grothama is a really weird card. It's the sort of card that left people scratching their heads when it came out. The concept behind it is that it's supposed to be Magic's version of a monster in a multiplayer video game that anyone can kill and reap the rewards off of. This doesn't translate quite as well to Magic, though, as usually only a single person will get any of the rewards off of it, meaning it can very easily backfire on you for casting it. A cool card, but hardly a practical one for your typical game.

Number Fourteen

The design on Stunning Reversal is awesome. It's a cool way to try making a comeback in a game where you seem all but certain to die. In practice, though, it has no competitive utility and it's hard to make good use of in a multiplayer format like Commander. If you're losing, there's a decent chance it's because you're a threat so the next person at the table goes for the kill shot instead. If you're not the threat, then odds are decent the person trying to knock you out is so far ahead, a one time save probably won't do it. It's a fun story when it works, it just usually doesn't.

Number Thirteen and Twelve

It's impossible to talk about these two separately as they're meant to come in a pair. This is true of opening them in a booster, even, indicating they're meant to be played together. Sadly, neither is all that great as far as planeswalkers go. Rowan in particular has the problem of forcing all creatures an opponent controls to attack but not goad them, meaning they can get directed straight at you. As such there isn't much use for them outside of Limited, and so while a novel concept, they end up on the lower end of this list.

Number Eleven

After many years, Wizards finally decided to return to finish the -ling cycle of creatures. This started with Morphling (later Aetherling for a non-reserved list Blue iteration), then Torchling and Thornling. Now with Brightling, Wizards put out the fourth one with the final one, Endling, coming the following year in Modern Horizons. Brightling had a modest showing out of the gate. Legacy Death and Taxes players tried it out for a bit, and it appeared in Vintage Cube for a bit as well. These days it's in neither, with both showings having not panned out very well in the long term, leading Brightling to just being another ho-hum White creature in the end.

Number Ten

Nirkana Revenant is what I'd consider to be the first of the truly major reprints of this set - and there are plenty. At the time of Battlebond's release, copies of the only printing at the time in Rise of the Eldrazi were sitting around the $20-25 range. Commander players love their mana doublers and this provided a great way to do so in Mono-Black decks. Turns out the price may have been a bit overinflated, though, as the price crashed to around $6 as the year wore on and players got more copies in their hands. A great inclusion, though less so than several of the other cards in the set.

Number Nine

For a good number of years, Academy Rector had gained a reputation for enabling you to get up to nonsense. This was largely due to the ability to cheat out large and expensive enchantments like Omniscience that could win you the game fairly easily. Arena Rector offered the same opportunity but with planeswalkers. The question was, though, was it worth it to put any planeswalkers into play via this method? That's debatable, but there's no doubt that Commander players in particular still love this kind of effect, making it a very popular new card for some time from this set as a result.

Number Eight

Getting to copy creatures for minimal investment rules, and Bramble Sovereign offered that in spades. Not only was it affordable to clone creatures, but the base rate of a 4/4 for four mana wasn't too awful either. The wording on the card even allowed for some interesting gameplay possibilities, as you could politic your way through a game of Commander and clone an opponent's creature for them to take down a mutual foe.

Number Seven

Getting Land Tax reprinted in this set was a major deal. The card hadn't seen a true reprint since the Battle Royale box set, and Fourth Edition before that. That's nearly 20 years without a major reprint outside of a difficult to acquire judge foil. Land Tax was a hot commodity for Commander, Cube, and had even been unbanned in Legacy a few years prior, making it a card players wanted but couldn't get. This put several more copies in players' hands, thereby making it more accessible than ever before.

Number Six

Arcane Artisan is a great example of a powerful new Eternal-legal card that actually doesn't impact Commander all that much. Making a temporary token of a big creature is cool, but both harder to pull off consistently in a 100-card singleton format and the format already has plenty of ways to get big things out in a more permanent way. Instead, the card became a staple of both Cube and Legacy Sneak and Show, providing additional outlets for big creatures beyond the likes of the namesake Sneak Attack and Show and Tell. It's still a lot more niche than other Eternal staples, but it's proven to be quite useful in its own little niche over time.

Number Five

Eight mana is a lot for a big dumb demon, but it dishes out absurd amounts of damage that makes it a pain to deal with. Casting this into a large Exsanguinate can practically end the game on the spot! Oh, and in case you miss the wording on the line, Archfiend of Despair triggers on every end step, not just your own. That means if an opponent attacks another opponent, the life loss will still happen! A truly potent card for Commander tables, even if it comes with a high cost up front.

Number Four

Up to this point, True-Name Nemesis had exactly one printing in Commander 2013. Even existing in a precon that was readily accessible for a decent while, Legacy players everywhere still needed copies of the powerful card. By 2018, True-Name's power had gone down a fair amount and people learned how to fight back against it, leading to it being more respectable here. Still, it was a big deal when it was included here, both due to its high power level, need for it in a major Constructed format, and because this provided the card's first foil printing.

Number Three

The inclusion of this card was extremely welcome here. Mycosynth Lattice was growing to pretty exorbitant prices when Battlebond came out thanks to the growing demand caused by Commander. It'd be even more welcome a year later when Karn, the Great Creator was printed in War of the Spark, thereby creating a lock when paired alongside the Lattice. This interaction spiked Mycosynth Lattice's price even higher until it was eventually banned in Modern.

Number Two

Doubling Season remains a constant hit among casual players and by this point in 2018, it was dying for a reprint. The last time it saw one was in 2013 with the release of the original Modern Masters set, and that was right as Commander was just starting to get popular. In the five years since, the format had grown considerably, and Doubling Season was becoming a real hot commodity. Players wondered why it wasn't showing up in Masters packs, so seeing it here in more widely available and cheaper boosters was extremely welcome for all the players looking to double all their things.

Number One

It could be argued that Najeela is a bit of a mistake. She was designed as a cool five color Commander that could be played just as a Red card in Limited. Turns out she's a little busted, though. With the right deck, it's trivial to get non stop combat phases out of her and an absurd amount of tokens in the process. Forget casual Commander, she's one of the best things you can be doing in competitive Commander (aka cEDH). An absolute force to be reckoned with, Najeela easily deserves top billing on this list.

Paige Smith

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