Editor’s Note: We’re off today in celebration of the holidays. Enjoy this Monday Magic article, which was originally published on November 28th.
Commander 2016 has begun circulating in earnest, and while it’s still a bit early to say how well received the decks themselves are received, early word seems to indicate interest in what this iteration offers. Now into its 5th year of supplementary Commander products, Wizards seems to have ironed out some of the past issues of card scarcity and availability. What’s more, because of their insistence on making additional print runs if supply gets low, it’s much more likely that stores are holding to the $35 price tags.
Mostly, anyway.
Per usual, while we routinely mention why you shouldn’t pay above MSRP for your C16 decks, several of them have caught people’s attention early and are garnering prices above the norm. It’s hard to say at present if it’s the decks in their entirety that have people excited or simply a combination of the three things on everyone’s lips this time around.
Chief among those by far is the creation of four new four-color creatures, all now with legendary status. Ever since the creation of the only four-color cards out there with Guildpact’s Nephilim, players have been wanting to see more of their ilk. This became even more evident with the rise of EDH and the desire to create four color decks. Now with C16, players have that option with five new creatures – bringing the total amount of quad-color cards up to a whopping ten.
The second thing is the set’s Partner mechanic, which ties into another aspect of EDH many players have wanted for some time as more than a house rule: the desire to use more than one Commander at a time. Partner lets you use two Commanders, provided both have Partner. These creatures may not be as potent as many other legends, but having two out at once and the being able to mix and match them to create a wide variety of effective 3-4 color decks, their presence opens all manner of deck building potential.
Finally, there is the overall assortment of new cards themselves. While Commander decks are almost always worth their value thanks to their assortment of brand new cards and sought-after reprints, it’s hard not to get excited about the various new additions they bring to the Magic library. With over 50 new cards to showcase chock full of EDH goodness, we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about a few of them here.
So, this week we’re going to look at the ten most versatile cards in Commander 2016. Per usual, the criteria for choosing them focuses around which cards can be utilized in the most situations and deck styles more so than those that are simply the most powerful or most valuable.
Anyhow, let’s get started!
Next: Commander Cards 10-6