Commander 2018

The Commander 2018 decks have been revealed: here's the card gallery, here's the deck lists.

White
Of the new cards, two of them are straight up bonkers, Empyrial Storm and Heavenly Blademaster. Storm has the pleasant quality of bringing someone into a game they might be excluded from but the Blademaster is just vomiting power via a very easy build. The rest are just...there. Magus of the Balance is a nice include for cycle completists. I really wish that the Lieutenant mechanic said "Legendary" instead of "Commander", though.

Here's why: I don't think that the Commander game should be distinct from the rest of the Magic ecosystem. Yes, because of Commander's nature there are areas to explore that just aren't possible or available in a regular game of Magic but those areas should, in my opinion, be explored to be compatible with regular games of Magic whenever possible. When it cannot be, then it cannot be but this isn't one of those times.

That all said: those cards just aren't that compelling.

The reprints are in the same boat: did we need Serra Avatar? Terminus and Entreat the Angels are miserable cards to play against, but I can at least see Terminus being advocated for, due to the ever present use of graveyards in magic.

I'm just surprised at the dull quality of these reprints.

Blue
Getting more new cards this year, (8 to white's 5) I'm liking Vedalken Humiliator the most. I do like Ever-Watching Threshold, and Octopus Umbra too and I'm fairly certain Aminatou's Augury can be broken.

There's a pretty lame flavor fail on the Loyal Drake: who is Aeschel? Why is a card that cares about Commanders spotlighting a character that isn't a commander?

But there's a little more to love here, I think.

The reprints, well...again, I'm not seeing a lot to get excited over. Was ANYONE asking for Jeskai Infiltrator? Anyone? And Devastation Tide in a multiplayer focused format? That would be questionable if Miracle wasn't attached to the card but with it...I just foresee unhappy game states. Not that the reset is bad, it's that the miracle mechanic-especially when combined with a 'card on top' theme, is grueling to play against, as anyone who's had to deal with a Counterbalance knows.

Black
I love, LOVE, Entreat the Dead. I know I shouldn't, but I do. With only six new cards, the pickin's are slim for good stuff. Sower of Discord is an interesting political tool, and Skull Storm will flat out win games. Even if you've only cast your commander twice, the impact is huge. My feelings on it are: that could be good, but storm mechanics always make me very, very wary. Unlike Empyrial Storm, Skull just crushes players.

The reprints-slim as they are, too-have a little more going on with them, and feel like less filler more decent stuff than the others. I'd say, however it's only been two years since they printed Army of the Damned and I don't know that we needed a 4th reprint.

Red
Nine new red cards! A storied creature in Varchild, a unique way to go after enchantments with Enchanter's Bane: really, I am pretty impressed with the new cards here. They're weird enough in some places, powerful in others: I think these cards have something to offer.

In a deviation from the other colors, the reprints are decent too. Yeah, Chain Reaction and Blasphemous Act have seen some reprints but they're good sweepers for the format. Magmaquake is meh but a reasonable reprint, I suppose.

Green
Man, did Green need a card like Whiptongue Hydra. Myth Unbound is...a little unwieldy.  However, it is the kind of card that, unlike the lieutenant mechanic, I don't see them making any other way. I also wonder how useful Ravenous Slime might be in the larger game. Green rarely gets exile effects, so that's interesting.

The reprints...and there are a LOT. Whoa. 41! That's a lot of weight for green. It's very workmanlike, I suppose. Rampaging Baloth, Avenger of Zendikar; it doesn't take much in the way of thought to add these cards. Ground Seal is possibly the most unexpected. It's...the okayest color, I suppose. A lot of what you'd expect to support the themes, nothing that compelling to mess around with or be glad I'm seeing again.

Artifacts
I do like the callback of Ancient Stone Idol. Coveted Jewel is a way to bring the Monarch mechanic into Commander without calling it such. Retrofitter Foundry, though, that's some cool design. Those are the kinds of cards I'd hope to see more of in sets like this.

As for the reprints...all pretty dull. Also, once again, we are not getting some kind of Shatterstorm or Tranquility effect, (Akroma's Vengeance doesn't count) and we deserve one as a safety valve for the kinds of nonsense WotC wants to push. But at 33 reprints, it's doing a lot of work for this set to fix mana and keep decks functioning.

Lands
I don't have much to say here. It's all extremely utility based and lacking anything weird or fun. What I will say is that, looking at the lists, BOY there are some real issues with all the lands that enter tapped. 18 of 42 land, 14 of 38, 21 of 38, and...4 of 34? There are a disturbing number of lands entering tapped and that can have a severe impact on play. I don't expect these decks to have high profile dual lands, but there's got to be a better way to support multi-colored decks. Why aren't there Lair reprints? Why are there not wedge dragon Lairs? C'mon, Wizards. These are not wacky design issues to solve; they're easy color fixes that could go a long way.

Multicolored
Here's the meat of it, right? This is where the Commanders live, this year.

Planeswalkers as Commanders is a very fine line to walk and with the exception of Saheeli who appears clearly overpowered in an easy-to-build-around deck, I think they did OK. Aminatou feels like a color pie miss, since the trading aspect feels more red than black.

The other commanders I'm happy to say do take some risks: Arixmethes is a very cool design that I wish did a little more-here's a creature that should have islandwalk and forestwalk, or, like other giant blue kraken, trample or some other form of semi-unblockability. The landwalk, however feels like a blown opportunity. Xantcha, Sleeper Agent doesn't have that problem though: it's just an interesting, weird card. A big win for spikey-fort decks. Yennett has a nice take on the Sphinx ability and getting a ninja commander is a big flavor win for a lot of players. I don't think it's a genius design but it looks fun and I hope it makes the ninja crowd happy.

The other designs don't do much for me; they all feel pretty typical in terms of what they should do, either as color combos or creatures. What I will note is that they all feel aggressive, maybe even designed as a way to goad the Commander games to a conclusion. I can get behind that: games that go longer than an hour really drag. They may not be very exciting but they'll get the job done.

The reprints, again, feel really pedantic. There's they typical attempt to make Aethermage's Touch happen (it's never going to happen), some decent support cards for the themes they're working on as well as some catchall solutions (Gaze of Granite). I don't get the crazed love for Cold-Eyed Selkie; this is it's 5th reprint! It isn't that good, but perhaps that's the point: It is the sort of card that, with enhancements (Auras, anyone?) can become a real beatstick.

It's not a bad mashup, I just wish I was more excited about it. The card I'm most pleased to see is Silent-Blade Oni, which is a fun card that deserved a reprint and Bruna, Light of Alabaster deserves a place to shine, too.

I get that the meta they want to push is about just these four decks, but that ecosystem is way, WAY too narrow in my opinion. It's lead to one of the most lackluster Commander sets I've ever seen and a lot of really dull designs that aren't pushed.

I'm starting to believe that Wizards would do well to question the direction they're going in-and even some of the staples they insist on putting in every product (really looking at you, Sol Ring-17! reprints!), perhaps giving more time to design and work these sets.