Cherubs from the Sistine Madonna by Raphael Sanzio (1512). Hover Myr by Dan Scott.
On April 18th we were treated to an exciting announcement from Wizards of the Coast!
This year, Commander decks return with Commander (2017 Edition) on August 25, 2017*. The set features four new tribal-themed, 100-card decks including 56 all-new Magic cards legal in Vintage and Legacy.
Yes, we are releasing four decks this year instead of the normal five, since this year's theme isn't based on the color wheel but some of Magic's most popular, and interesting, tribes!
Today's blog article is devoted to my own analysis and predictions for the decks we're going to be getting at the end of the summer. I'll make my arguments, defend my reasoning and will probably be wrong, but I enjoy a good bit of brainstorming so let's have at it!
Obvious Tribes
Lots of folks analyzed the announcement and have latched onto the words "most popular". While everyone has their own idea for what tribes are their favorites, going with Elves, Goblins, Angels & Dragons is probably an obvious answer. Someone will find reasons to complain about whatever tribes they choose, but I'm guessing there's a good chance that two or three of those four tribes would be included if they take the easy route.
Of course, four of the most popular tribes in Magic history may not be the right answer to our conundrum. After all, Goblins are only interesting to someone just getting into the game. Most players who have played for even a short time have seen their fill of goblin EDH decks, so picking a tribe that's been overdone in the format might not be the best choice. On the other hand, pre-con Commander decks are a way of getting players into the game, so who could blame Wizards for going to to some tried-and-true tribes that nearly everyone views as iconic parts of the Magic the Gathering landscape.
Interesting Tribes
If Wizards of the Coast decides to not bore us all to death with some of the already most overdone tribes in the game, maybe just maybe they'll follow through on the second part of their announcement. Maybe they'll give us interesting tribes! Obviously, we can rule out anything REALLY interesting because they have to still be popular. Ouphe Tribal might sound like a crazy good time, but you can't reasonably call the Ouphe tribe popular. If they must be both popular & interesting, they might go with Merfolk, Werewolves, Faeries and Demons.
Of course, what people find interesting is probably even more varied than what players' favorite tribes are, so at this point it's still something of a guessing game. Maybe the next piece of the puzzle we need to look at is what colors of mana we'll be playing with.
The Question of Colors
We've seen one, two, three and now four color commander decks. In each set they created five decks so that they could properly cover all possible color combinations. Wizards takes set construction very seriously. They put a great amount of effort into at least trying to make each color relatively unique and balanced when compared to the other colors, even if it's glaringly obvious that blue is their favorite and must always reign supreme.
This time if we're taking them at their word, we will be seeing only four Commander decks instead of the usual five.
2011 - 3/c Wedge Colors
2013 - 3/c Shard Colors
2014 - 1/c Monocolor
2015 - 2/c Enemy Colors
2016 - 4/c
There are color configurations Wizards hasn't yet done. They could make make a set with 5 2/c decks in allied colors, but they said they aren't making five decks this time around.
With only four decks the only color combinations they could possibly go with that would not result in a color getting less love than other colors would be for this set to feature four 5/color decks. In their announcement, they specifically said that this year's theme "isn't based on the color wheel". One could argue that by using all colors for each deck, they are not "basing" the decks on the color wheel, in that each deck will not in any way derive of its flavor and strategy from the unique colors that are available in each deck.
No other combination really makes sense. I think the safest bet is for these decks to all be in 5 colors.
If I'm wrong, it is possible they will follow no pattern and just have a veritable train-wreck of different color combinations for this year's decks. They could go with a 1/c, 2/c, 3/c and 5/c deck. I would find that a little disappointing, and it would mess with everyone's OCD, but it's worth mentioning. Bad things happen to good people. This year's Commander decks could fit that description.
5/c Legendary Reprints
If Wizards of the Coast is releasing four 5/c decks and they include any reprinted legendary creatures as commanders, we can make some educated guesses as to what tribes they will be going with.
Dragons
There are Dragons from all 5 colors to draw from and a 5/c Dragons deck could include Scion of the Ur-Dragon as a potential backup commander.
Hydras
While they could go with Progenitus for their 5/c Hydra reprint, they don't have full support across all 5 colors in hydra reprints. This would be a challenge, but would also be really exciting. New Hydras in all 5 colors? Yes please!
Elementals
Horde of Notions is a super-tutor for Elementals and they would have an easy time building a deck in 5 colors in this diverse tribe.
Slivers
I know, I know... Slivers. They could go with any of four different Sliver commanders and have an easy time throwing this last one together.
The only other 5/c options I saw were Atogs, Avatars, Illusions and Scarecrows. None of those are popular, interesting and well supported in 5 colors. I think Dragons, Hydras, Elementals and Slivers are logical choices if they were to go with tribes where they have legendaries already available.
If I'm right about 5/color decks I think it's safe to say at least one or two of the picks I made above might make it into their finished product.
Of course, when you look at past Commander decks, I'm pretty sure that few or possibly none of the decks are led by reprinted legendary creatures. Why reprint yesterday's General when you can spin up some new brand of crazy to lead your new deck? If we're looking at existing 5/c commanders, we're probably barking up the wrong tree.
Maybe we're being too simplistic by equating "tribes" with "races".
Class War
The most obvious choice for tribal decks is to build based on races. I've made an argument that many of the most "popular" options would be bad choices because players already have plenty of tribal decks. Goblin decks built around Krenko, Grenzo and Zada are easy to build and neary every playgroup has at least one. Elf decks aren't that hard to find. Dragons got done to death in the Khans block, so it may be too soon to go back to a Dragon heavy deck this year. Zombies are another popular and interesting tribe that got a lot of attention in recent blocks as well.
If we want a truly creative and interesting set of decks this year, Wizards may choose to look beyond races.
If they were to assemble a tribe based around a "class" instead of a race, they would have an easier time hitting all 5 colors, including lots of interesting creatures. The perfect example of this would be General Tazri, but of course his block was way too recent. I honestly don't think they'd go back to allies so soon.
With this in mind, my prediction for a class-based set of 5/c commanders might be the following:
Rogues
There are rogues in all 5 colors, and commander staples abound. They span many races and there are plenty of legendary rogues from Edric, Gonti, Grenzo and Yisan to the king of EDHREC himself - Chandler. They would have to create some new 5/c legendary rogues, but that will be true for all of these picks, so that isn't a disqualifying factor.
Knights
Knights are also in all 5 colors, but they definitely have fewer staples in their tribe and have less good legendaries to pick from for reprints. My current favorite - Sidar Kondo of Jamuraaaaa - is a Knight. There are a few other legendaries, but not enough to get super excited about reprinted knights. Shaman It's impressive to see how many Shamans are considered staples in EDH. This is a tribe with a lot of representation across many races and all colors - though there's very little in white. As for legendaries, again you would be impressed with how many important figures in EDH are shamans.
Wizards Blue is the color you most associate with Wizards but there are Wizards in every color and more than enough to build a 5/c deck around. The same holds true for legendary Wizards. This could be an interesting opportunity for Wizards to show us what else can be done with Wizards outside of the tiresome mono-blue control decks we're all used to from the Wizard tribe.
All four of these tribes could present us with unique, varied and interesting 5/c decks and they could all have fantastic new 5/c legendary commanders. Each deck could included interesting reprints and its own strategic visions that would make it play out differently and not just feel like yet another 5/c goodstuff deck.
My Final Answer
As with everything, figuring out what tribes we'll be seeing is every bit as likely as picking a March Madness college basketball bracket. There are so many options that it's unlikely anyone could pick the lineup this far in advance. The four separate lineups I listed above are all relatively unlikely.
That said, I've got to come down with a final list for what tribes I think they will, or at least should, pick for the 2017 Commander set.
Your 2017 Commander Deck tribes will be:
Rogues - Knights - Shaman - Myr
Myr?
Seriously?
Hear me out...
These tribes represent four interesting, varied, fun and flexible choices that could each support five color decks. They could each have a unique strategy and feel that would make it feel like not just another 5/color goodstuff deck.
Did you seriously think I was going to pick Wizards?
I hate Wizard tribal decks with their oppressive control and endless counter magic, but I LOVE the Myr tribe.
In fact, this entire article was just an excuse for me to brainstorm on what Myr Generals I would create so that we can finally have a tribal EDH deck with all 5 of the color-generating Myr mana dorks. I could probably fill an entire blog post with bad Myr puns, but I'll try to limit myself to 3 proposed Myr Legendary creatures.
My 3 New Myr Legendaries
There are Myr mana dorks for all 5 colors. There are tons of other Myr available for reprint. They are all colorless, but that isn't a deal breaker. We'll have lots of other cards in the deck and our Myr commanders will of course be 5/c legendary creatures. In the long tradition of Myr, they will be cast for generic mana, but they will gain their color identity from abilities that cost WUBRG to activate.
The deck would be obviously artifact themed, with every Myr we could possibly throw in, including that precious little Hover Myr in the artwork at the top of this blog post. We may throw in some splicers and maybe an affinity or golem subtheme, but it's going to be all Myr all the time.
Final Thoughts
Have I successfully picked out what Wizards of the Coast will be putting into their 2017 Commander Product?
If I have, will they please send me one of each deck?
Pretty please?
In reality, I would be astonished if I were to have predicted this set with any accuracy at all. My money would probably be on the "easy" choices - maybe Goblins, Elves, Merfolk & Kithkin, or something like that. Kithkin could be hella fun. Wizards has made a lot of quality decks over the years and I have no reason to think this release will be any exception. Still, I am going to hold out hope for my 5/c Myr deck.
Maybe we'll get a commander called "Myr to Nothingness" where you can pay WUBRG to have target player lose the game. That would be neat... and yes, I am kidding, and I was mostly kidding about my other Myr Legendary suggestions as well. Still... "The Myrminator" does have a certain ring to it.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed today's brainstorming session.
Next week's installment of Commanderruminations will be divisive and cranky and will be sure to elicit plenty of angry responses on social media, so stay tuned!