Wizards of the Coast made Commander into an official format in 2011. Before then, the 100-card casual format was known as Elder Dragon Highlander, or EDH for short. There's a robust history of EDH dating all the way back to 1996! As nearly every player knows, the format revolves around a central legendary creature, known as your Commander, and its associated color identity. Many popular Commanders (formerly known as Generals) are multiple colors because it unlocks more facets of the color wheel with which players have to build their decks.

Do you know where this concept of the multicolored legendary creatures got its beginning? You need to go back even further, before the creation of EDH. We have to travel all the way back to the Legends expansion, which first launched in 1994.

At the inception of Elder Dragon Highlander, the majority of available Generals would have come from Legends. In fact, the term "Elder Dragon Highlander" is a direct callout to the Elder Dragon Legends, a collection of five multicolored, legendary creatures from Legends. I suspect these would have been some of the more popular options during the early days of EDH.

Fast forward to 2024, and I wonder if any legendary creatures from Legends, the "OG Commander set," would hold up in a game of Commander. You could stick to the Old School mentality, and build a deck around one of these five dragons. I suspect there are better options, though. Let's take a look at the most viable Commanders to build around from this 30-year-old set in today's environment.

I must confess that I gave Angus Mackenzie top billing because I currently have a Commander deck built around the Bant-colored legendary creature. There will always be a spot in my heart for Turbo-Fog strategies, and Angus Mackenzie strikes me as the perfect Commander for such a deck. For Bant mana (Blue, White, Green), you can activate Angus Mackenzie to prevent combat damage during a turn--just like the original spell Fog from Limited Edition Alpha.

Andrew Floury explored Fog strategies in Commander in an article they wrote back in 2021. Angus Mackenzie was listed as one of the viable Commanders for such a strategy--pretty impressive considering the creature is 30 years old!

What sort of cards synergize most with this Fog-on-a-stick? For starters, I'd include spells that provide you with more Fog effects, including its namesake. Even better than Fog is Constant Mists, which is effectively a Fog effect that you can buyback by sacrificing a land.

I'll admit my build deviates from this strategy. Rather than focus on hiding behind protection spells and effects, I'm mainly using Angus Mackenzie to preserve my life total while I assemble convoluted, oft-underpowered combos. It's not a powerful deck, but it can win out of nowhere if left unchecked. That seems like Angus Mackenzie's M.O.: dilly dally unsuspectingly with Fogs and other protection spells, and then win out of nowhere with a card like Approach of the Second Sun.

If you like this kind of strategy, I recommend checking out Angus Mackenzie. Not coincidentally, Angus Mackenzie is the most expensive multicolored legendary creature from Legends.If the price tag intimidates you (English copies go for $200), I'd suggest picking up an Italian copy for about 25% of the price.

Does Dakkon Blackblade look or sound familiar to you? Unlike Angus Mackenzie, this creature isn't on the Reserved List, so it has seen multiple reprints over the years. Additionally, there was a call-out to Dakkon Blackblade in Modern Horizons 2 with the printing of a Dakkon Planeswalker named Dakkon, Shadow Slayer. Richard Kane Ferguson even did the art for the Planeswalker version of the card, so the aesthetic of Dakkon himself looks pretty consistent across the cards.

In any event, Dakkon Blackblade provides a fairly straightforward strategy for Commander players: play a ton of lands, drop a gigantic creature, help enable attacks to kill your opponent with Commander damage. With a mana value of six, Dakkon Blackblade is likely to hit the table as a 6/6 or greater, with plenty of opportunity to grow out of hand.

How do you build a Commander deck to make Dakkon Blackblade even more formidable? First, I'd start by equipping him with Blackblade Reforged, no doubt a shout-out to the original creature from Legends. The equipment gives a creature +1/+1 for each land you control--sound familiar? It should go without saying this deck also needs to play Dakkon, Shadow Slayer...for flavor value if nothing else.

Of course, the deck will also need all sorts of ways to put more lands into play. Sword of the Animist, Walking Atlas, Burnished Hart, Wayfarer's Bauble, and Kor Cartographer are good for this purpose, but there's a seemingly endless list of options. Solemn Simulacrum goes in many decks for its raw power, but it especially shines here.

Lastly, I'd look for ways to give Dakkon Blackblade trample or unblockable. The creature can be endlessly chump-blocked by random throwaway creatures, so making him more difficult to block will be key. Something simple like Aether Tunnel or Aqueous Form would do the trick nicely, but I imagine there are a ton of options to choose from. For something with a little upside, there's Bilbo's Ring or Cryptic Coat. The options are plentiful.

Rubinia Soulsinger doesn't offer the same powerful synergies that the previous two creatures did, but she is still a viable Commander if you're looking for her stealing-creatures effect. I suppose Merieke Ri Berit does effectively the same thing for two less mana, but she's Esper and Rubinia is Bant, so there is a difference. If you really want to play a Bant Commander deck, and you want your Commander to be able to steal opponents' creatures, then Rubinia Soulsinger is for you!

My ideal Rubinia Soulsinger deck would jam as many "steal your opponents' creatures" as possible. Cards with highest synergy would include Sower of Temptation, Agent of Treachery, and Mind Flayer. Of course, auras like Control Magic, Persuasion, and Binding Grasp are a must. Blue Sun's Twilight allows you to double up, stealing a creature while simultaneously copying it if you spend enough mana.

The other component of this deck that you'll want is the ability to untap creatures. If Rubinia becomes untapped, you lose control of the creature she stole. We can't ignore that. However, if you can untap Rubinia at instant speed, then you can tap her again to steal a different (ideally, better) creature. Imagine how this would interfere with combat, especially during a multiplayer game! For this reason, cards like Ioreth of the Healing House and Kiora's Follower are powerful includes.

Since Rubinia isn't on the Reserved List, she's been reprinted a few times, including recently in Commander Anthology. As a result, copies are inexpensive, and offers a budget way to build around a classic creature.

While not a popular choice for Commander, Rasputin Dreamweaver offers opportunity for unique combinations and synergies that you don't see from many other creatures in modern Magic. When Rasputin enters, he comes with seven counters, which can be used to generate colorless mana. Technically, since Rasputin only costs six, you can generate an incremental colorless mana when he comes into play.

Right away my mind starts to think big! For example, you can cast Rasputin Dreamweaver and then immediately cast Chromatic Orrery the same turn. Then subsequent counters Rasputin Dreamweaver replenishes can be used for any color of mana!

The fun doesn't stop there. If you have six lands in play and cast Rasputin Dreamweaver, you presumably have access to thirteen mana the next turn! What kind of things can you cast for thirteen mana? How about Kozilek, Butcher of Truth? Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre? Emrakul, the Promised End? In reality, you have access to all sorts of Eldrazi many turns before you would normally have enough mana to cast such expensive creatures!

Lastly, you're going to want ways to blink Rasputin Dreamweaver--this both protects him and replenishes those seven counters to cast more gigantic spells. Teleportation Circle and Conjurer's Closet are two popular ways to do this, but there are many other options.

If you are the type of player who wants to ramp out gigantic Eldrazi in a most unsuspecting fashion, I'd highly encourage you to check out Rasputin Dreamweaver. The Commander offers surprising synergy, and you'll get style points for jamming a 30-year-old creature with Andi Rusu's classic art style.

Wrapping It Up

Looking through the legendary creatures from Legends, I'm surprised to see there are a number of decent options worth building around even today. Are these as powerful as modern-day Commanders? No. I can't honestly say they are. But they're not so outclassed that you'd get laughed out of the local game shop should you sit down to a friendly Commander match with one of them.

These aren't the only viable options either. There are a couple others I would deem "worthy," but the gameplay they encouraged were not as exciting to me. The original Nicol Bolas is a popular choice. Hazezon Tamar can drive an effective go-wide strategy, generating tons of 1/1 Sand Warrior creature tokens. Sol'kanar the Swamp King is a recently reprinted creature that has a form of evasion in Swampwalk and provides a little bit of lifegain. Xira Arien is another reprint from Legends that can draw a player one card. It's not that these are bad strategies--they just don't strike me as unique or quite as interesting.

No matter your gameplay style, there's probably something that will strike your interest from Legends. If you have an appreciation for Magic's history and want to play a Commander that existed before the inception of Elder Dragon Highlander, check out what Legends has to offer. Between the classic, standout art, unique abilities, and collectible nature of these cards, there's a little something for everybody.