So, some information about the upcoming Dominaria set got leaked about 2 weeks early. As it turns out, the set is very Legendary focused, and that’s a good sign for Commander players. Here are some cards that jumped out to me:
Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
Legendary Creature — Human Artificer
Whenever you cast a historic spell, draw a card. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
3/3
So, finally we get a blue/red commander that cares about artifacts. She also cares about some other things, which is great because she also triggers off, say, Pia Nalaar, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer and some other legendary artificers you might want to include.
Her ability is a bit boring, but very practical. Do a thing, draw a card is a fine way to enable all sorts of combo’s. I have a Pia and Kiran Nalaar artifact deck and while the thopters are nice to have, having access to an extra colour and a lot of extra card draw seems what the decks could really use. The deck is really stuffed, though, so wish me luck with cutting stuff to make place for blue cards. Maybe I don’t have to change much besides adding to the manabase, and finding a place for Storm the Vault. Which reminds me: I should go find a Golden Guardian for that deck.
Mox Amber –
Legendary Artifact
: Add one mana of any color among legendary creatures and planeswalkers you control.
The thing with the traditional Moxes is that they don’t count as a landdrop, which means it’s mostly useful when you plan to use a landdrop. The other thing is that you can tap them from mana, then play the next one, but this isn’t an issue in Commander. Given that Mox Amber needs a commander to work (and sadly one other than Hope of Ghirapur, since that one is colourless.)
Still, I can see this one being a roleplayer in my Shu Yun deck, because it can help trigger prowess. So, I hope it doesn’t become too popular, so I can get a foil for cheap, even though chances are it only makes most of the time.
Slimefoot, the Stowaway –
Legendary Creature — Fungus
Whenever a Saproling you control dies, Slimefoot, the Stowaway deals 1 damage to each opponent and you gain 1 life.
: Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.
2/3
One of the things Wizards mentioned of the set is that every pack will contain one of something Legendary. So, we’re also getting uncommon Legendary creatures, and appearantly Slimefoot is one of them. Since I started playing the game, I’ve always been intrigued by Saprolings. I even have some cards at the ready for a Thelon of Havenwood but the deck didn’t really ever come of the ground, for some reason. Maybe because there aren’t enough interesting Thallids to use.
Slimefoot makes it worth a shot, though. It’s the perfect commander to use Tendershoot Dryad with. And I have always been a fan of Saproling Burst too, even though it’s a lot less effective without haste enablers like Fires of Yavimaya. Concordant Crossroads is an option. Akroma’s Memorial also gives haste.
And saprolings get an extra lord with:
Sporecrown Thallid –
Creature — Fungus
Each other creature you control that’s a Fungus or Saproling gets +1/+1.
2/2
That puts the “Fun” in Fungal. Why not?
Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar – 4GG
Legendary Creature — Elemental AvatarReach, trample
Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar gets +1/+1 for each land you control and each land card in your graveyard.
, Return two lands you control to their owner’s hand: Return Multani from your graveyard to your hand.
0/0
What’s there to say? Multani fits Omnath, the Enraged like a glove. It shares the land matters theme, he is an elemental that can die over and overand also helps triggering landfall. Add “big” and “trample” into the mix – and reach, which matters because Omnath can’t deal very well with flyers – and we have a creature that will probably replace something in the deck.
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame –
Legendary Creature — Human ShamanAt the beginning of combat on your turn, for each Aura and Equipment attached to Valduk, Keeper of the Flame, create a 3/1 red Elemental creature token with trample and haste. Exile those tokens at the beginning of the next end step.
3/2
Speaking of elementals, even though Omnath doesn’t do aura’s or equipments much, it doesn’t mean that Valduk can’t have his own deck, launching one elemental token after another. The deck may be a little one-note, but he seems very aggressive.
Moving on to dragons, there are two (or three, when kicked) that seem cool:
Verix Bladewing –
Legendary Creature — Dragon
Kicker 3 (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.)
Flying
When Verix Bladewing enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, create Karox Bladewing, a legendary 4/4 red Dragon creature token with flying.
Dragon tribal is alsways looking for some relatively cheap inclusions. isn’t bad, and getting a hasty Broodmate Dragon later in the game is a good deal. This is definately an option for my Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund deck. Speaking of which:
Darigaaz Reincarnated –
Legendary Creature — Dragon
Flying, trample, haste
If Darigaaz Reincarnated would die, instead exile it with three egg counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Darigaaz is exiled with an egg counter on it, remove an egg counter from it. Then if Darigaaz has no egg counters on it, return it to the battlefield.
7/7
Dragon tribal also needs big, top-end dragons. This reborn version of the Elder Dragon Darigaaz is often the biggest thing in the skies, and even though he doesn’t have the ability of the original Darigaaz, the Igniter he’s bigger,has haste (so you don’t have to wait a whole turn) and trample, making blocker irrelevant. Also, sometimes he comes back from the dead.
Dominaria looks pretty cool so far, and there are lots more cards leaked, but these strike me as the most interesting so far.