We have had a LOT of legendary creatures released in 2024 and that means lots of options for new Commanders! From disguising and accusing in Murders at Karlov Manor to Prime number typal in Duskmourne, There has been no shortage of interesting mechanics to explore as the headline of a shiny new Commander deck. Today I want to talk about the unique deck-building challenges and novel strategies from my favorite Commanders of the year so far!

Number Five

On the Surface, Niko, Light of Hope seems to be a pretty standard(Adjective not format) blink/flicker Azorius Commander, however, its effect reveals a curious conundrum. Niko can exile a card that will later return to the battlefield, making it a no-brainer to include impactful ETB effects that can be reused and abused like Loran of The Third Path, and Mulldrifter. The other part of its effect turns your shard tokens into copies of that exiled creature rather than creating new copies, meaning you will not get an ETB trigger when they transform. This means your deck needs to be balanced between cards that offer powerful Enter abilities while also having good targets to transform into. Cards like Sun Titan and Aeriel Extortionist fulfill both desires rather nicely, but striking that balance across an entire deck can be quite challenging. Those who take the time to find that balance, however, are rewarded with a flexible and powerful Commander!

Number Four

From the often overlooked Assasin's Creed Universe's Beyond set, The Capitoline Triad feels like an incredibly fresh take on a Colorless Commander. A 10-mana Legendary Creature that discounts its cost for each historic spell in your graveyard pushes the deck into an almost artifact-centric self-mill strategy using cards like Mesmeric Orb while the other ability grants you an emblem making all your creatures 9/9, pushing you to also find ways to swarm the battlefield with tokens using cards like Myr Battlesphere. Even the requirement of exiling 30 mana value worth of cards becomes a deck-building puzzle, practically demanding big spells like Ulamogg, the Ceaseless Hunger, and Spine Of Ish Sah. When all is said and done this Commander wants you to fill up your grave with high mana value historic spells that will turn tiny critters into huge hitters all while restricting your deck to colorless only. An incredibly fun and complex deck to build all around.

Number Three

Roxanne, Starfall Savant has easily become one of my favorite Commanders in recent memory. When Roxanne enters she makes a tapped Meteorite that taps for any color and deals 2 damage to a target when it itself enters. She also allows token artifacts to tap for an additional mana. There is a truly dizzying amount of synergy you can squeeze out of this deceptively simple effect. Roxanne allows treasures to create more mana since they tap for cost, making cards like Magda, Brazen Outlaw, and Professional Facebreaker even better. Token production makes Doubling Season and Parallel Lives a no-brainer especially since they synergize with Treasures too. Increase damage with cards like Fiery Emancipation? Sure. Use cards with enrage like Apex Altisaur and hit them with your own meteorites? Why not. Flicker Roxanne with Conjurer's Closet or make clones with Helm of the Hosts for more meteorites? Each your heart out. Heaven forbid you play a card like Panharmonicon that doubles the ETB for Roxanne AND you meteorites. Once you start experimenting with what Roxanne is capable of it becomes tough to keep the deck limited to 99 cards.

Number Two

Flubs, The Fool seemed like a bit of a meme when it was first revealed, yet time has proven that Flubs has the potential to be an extremely powerful Commander. Flubs can be a bit off-putting since it is functionally a one-way ticket to being permanently hellbent, but once you embrace this admittedly chaotic playstyle, Flubs reveals itself to be an incredible resource-generating engine. Deck construction is key with Flubs and there are lots of neat ways to turn its downside into more value. You can use cards with Madness to get a discount as you discard them, cards with flashback to reuse from the graveyard or even impulse draw to keep useful cards out of your hand and safe from your discard. Flubs has proven to be so powerful in fact that it quickly became a presence in cEDH on release. If you haven't messed around with this silly little guy, hop on it.

Number One

The moment I started making this list I knew Omo would be in the number one slot. Omo, Queen of Vesuva may not seem like a particularly powerful card alone, but she is the absolute queen of synergy. Functionally creating its own "Typal typal" strategy, Omo is capable of turning a pile of obscure support cards into an unstoppable juggernaut. Give a card like Avenger of Zendikar an everything counter and it can buff itself with its landfall triggers. Give any land an everything counter and they can turn on Urza lands like Urza's Tower alone. Those same lands can become an optional win-con using Maze's End as well. Hakbal Of the Surging Soul will let everything with a counter explore at the start of combat. Elvish Archdruid and Priest of Titania will see all of your everything counter creatures for their mana ramp. Spawning Kraken will see them deal combat damage for its effect. Timber Protector will buff them all and make them indestructible. Pretty much any anthem effect becomes a deadly presence when helmed by Omo.

That's my list! If you haven't tried out any of these Commanders I would recommend throwing a list together and experimenting with all the options. If your favorite Commander from 2024 wasn't on here that's because I countered it! Thanks for reading and see you next time!

"Be you, be free, live happily"

@MullDrifterStan