Now, hopefully you all saw the fabulous Reality Fracture preview we got to do before the set launched. Now it’s here though, we’ve seen what the set is truly made of, and my word… The Echoverse isn’t just a “perfect” multiverse, it’s practically a perfect place to start pulling new Commanders from!
There was only one precon for this set, headlined by Jace himself, but with the wealth of Legendary Creatures we have in this set, Wizards could have easily built more. Instead, let me take you through my top five picks for Commanders from this set.
Karn, Gilded Guardian
There’s always a risk playing a WUBRG (five colour) Commander. Mana base suddenly becomes a huge consideration, getting colour screwed (not having the colours you need to cast) can be a huge issue if you aren’t willing to invest money (or time printing proxies) in getting a good spread of lands. I think it’s worth it though, especially when you get to play any fun artifact in the damn game and then get to draw cards for it? Yes please!
Niv-Mizzet, Ghost Counsel
You’ll have to dip into the precon for this (or do the smart thing and buy singles), but this is an absolutely solid life-gain Commander for a multitude of reasons. Black/White means you get to chose from a huge chunk of the best life control cards in the game (and if you swing that way, gives you access to the Sanguine Bond / Exquisite Blood infinite combo, or it’s many variations).
The most important thing to note though, is that whilst life is literally one of the most important resources in the game, cards are the other. Once you’ve gotten a big life lead over your opponents, if you decide that drawing cards will better suit your gameplan instead. What do you know? Niv actually lets you do that instead! It’s a win-win all round (if you can overlook the slightly pricey mana cost).
Tam, the Possibility
Yes, I know I just said WUBRG is a risk, but take everything I said about Karn and apply it to Planeswalkers, not artifacts. Reality Fracture is a Planeswalker focused set for sure, and I don’t know what the tables you play at are like, but most of mine tend to remove the wily wizards on sight due to the powerful “ultimates” they typically has as their highest cost ability.
Proliferate is a Simic (blue/green) staple. Typically, it’s used to increase the number of +1/+1 counters on creatures to make them bigger. By rules text though, it works on all counters. Poison, -1/-1, and Loyalty. You name it, you can stick another one on there. Obviously the intention here is to pump up your planeswalkers loyalty to keep them alive or pop off their ultimates, but really, you could swing Tam in a wide variety of directions!
Tinybones, Pocket Nuisance
Black loves discard (almost as much as blue, but I digress), and pinging every opponent every time is a fantastic way of draining down the life totals of your pod. There’s no big brain plan here. Don’t let your opponents have a single spell left in their hand, maybe do some tricksy things with graveyards if you fancy it, but it’s such a lovely utility effect that can lead to some easy wins.
Winter, Team Player
The famous loner, and emo standout of the Duskmourn crew, has a pretty snazzy reflection in the Echoverse. Red is the colour of cheap spells and cheap creatures. Get a wide board out there, tap some of them to negate commander tax on Winter if needed, throw out some cheap shock/buff spells, use your army to stomp the table into the dirt.
I am a huge believer in supporting the in-universe sets when they come along. I don’t dislike UB, but I do dislike the sheer amount of UB we are being over-saturated with at this point. So, speak with your wallets folks and go support this fantastic new set!