While 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic The Gathering releases tie-in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Commander decks with most sets, we receive a bumper crop of them each year in an annual 'Commander’ release. Last year’s Commander 2021 was Strixhaven-themed and brought us loads of powerful new cards that have gone on to become format staples, like Archaeomancer’s Map and Inkshield.This year, we’re returning to the gorgeously dangerous streets of New Capenna with five decks based on each of its demonic crime families. Across two days, all five decks will be fully revealed, and each will inclu💜de a total of seventeen brand new cards exclusively for the Commander, Vintage, and Legacy formats. Today, we’re looking at the blue/white/green Bedecked Brokers, and black/blue/red Maestᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚros Massacre decks, both of which look intimidating in their own, flavourful ways.
Bedecked Brokers
Bedecked Brokers is th🤡e blue/white/green deck of Commander 2022, based on the corrupt legal eagle Brokers family. They’ll tie your opponents up in legal red tape and fleece them for everything they’re worth, while also putting as many counters on permanents as possible.
We’ve already seen two of the three commanders in the box: the face commander, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Perrie, the Pulverizer, puts shield counters on creatures before buffing your entire side of the board with +X/+X, where X is the number of types of counters you control. Meanwhile, one of the backups is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kros, Defense Contractor, which uses counters on your opponent’s creatures to tap and goad them – stop✨ping them from blocking you and forcing them to swing out on th🔯eir controller’s turn.
Angelic Sleuth
Two generic, one white Creature – Angel Advi✤so🎉r:
Flying. Whenever another permanent you 💙control leaves the battlefield, if it had counters on it,🤪 investigate.
In white, there are so many ways to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:infinitely flicker creatures, and ther🥂e are more than enough “enters with X counter” effects to make this a potential infinite clue token co🐻mbo piece. In less combo-heavy decks, this is still a nice source of card advantage.
Skyboon Evangelist
Four generic, one white 🦄Creature – Bird Advisor:
Flying. When Skyboon Evangelist enters the battlefield, support six. Whenever a creature with a counter on i♕t a꧒ttacks one of your opponents, that creature gains flying until end of turn.
“Support six” means, when Skyboon Evangelist enters the battlefield, you can put a +1/+1 counter on up to six other creatures you cont🔥rol. It’s a great ⭕way to give your creatures a boost, make a large swathe of them modified, or help speed up commanders that care about creatures having counters like Hamza, Guardian of Arashin.
Resourceful Defense
Two generic, one white Enchantment:
Whenever a perman🍎ent you control leaves the battlefield, if it had counters on it, put those counterꦅs on target permanent you control.
Pay four generic and one white: Move any number of counters from target permanent you con🌸trol to another target permanent you control.
One of the biggest cards in this deck is Resourceful Defense. It’s effectively an improved version of Ikoria’s Ozolith – it costs two more and is an enchantment rather than an artifact but cuts out th🗹e middleman and moves 𝓀counters directly onto another permanent immediately. It also works with noncreatures, which could completely up-end both Saga and Superfriend decks by moving lore and loyalty counters around easily.
Contractual Safeguard
Two generic, one white Instant:
Addendum: If you cast this spell during your main phase, put ܫa shield 🏅counter on the creature you control.
Choose a kind of counter on a creature you control. Put a counter of that kin🌠d on each other creature yo𒐪u control.
It’s nice to see Addendum make a comeback, considering both the Brokers and Ravnica’s Azorius (for whom Addendum was their mechanic) control the legal systems of their respective🍨 worlds. This is another fabulous way to spread out the modifications – with all the spicy counters in Commander, ꦦthis could be nasty.
Damning Verdict
Three generic, two white Sorcery:
Destroy all creatures with no counters on them.
This isn’t the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:best mono-white board wipe in Co꧙mmander🍬, as it’s likely that your opponents will have a few counters on their own cre﷽atures. Still, this could be a good way of closing out the game for go-wide decks that need lots of counters.
Aven Courier
One generic, oꦅne blue Creature — Bird Advisor:
Flying. Whenever Aven Courier attacks, choose a counter on a permanent you control. Put a counter of that kind on target permanent you control if it doesn't have a counter of that kin♔d on it.
While lots of the Bedecked Brokers cards work well with just +1/+1 counters, Aven Courier really needs you to diversify and have as many types of counters as possible. This might be difficult for some decks to do, especially i🌟n blue where it isn’t quite as common. It’s a way of replenishing shield counters, at least.
Shield Broker
Three generic, two blue Creature – Cephalid Advis꧃or:
Whenever Shield Broker enters the battlefield, put a shi𒈔eld counter on target noncommander creature you don't control. Y♋ou gain control of that creature for as long as it has a shield counter on it.
It’s fairly trivial for an opponent to get back the creature you steal with Shield Broker, and it doesn’t allow you to nab a commander and completely shut down someone’s strategy. But if you can build up the shield counters and make itꦉ harder f𝔉or your opponent to get rid of them all, this could be a worthwhile tool for a lot of decks.
Storm of Forms
Three generic, one blue Instant:
When you cast this spell, copy it for each kind of counter among༒ permanents you control. You may choose new targets for the copies. Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.
With enough counters, this is effectively a baby’s first 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyclonic Rift. Even just a handful of counters lets you spot-remove the most problematic piece on the board at instant speed, making St🦩orm of Forms great.
Bribe Taker
Fi꧂ve gener♈ic, one green Creature – Rhino Warrior:
Trample. When Bribe Taker enters the battlefield, for each kind of counter on permanents 💮you control, you may put your choice of a +1/+1 counter or a counter of that kind on Bribe Taker.
With Bribe Taker, you can either make it one massive trampler with lots of +1/+1 counters or lean into keyword soup with lots of different kinds. Interestingly, it can also pick up counters not normally seen on creatures, like ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚlore and loyalty, making it a worthwhile comp♓anion to Resourceful Defense.
Park Heights Maverick
Two generic, one ಌgr𝐆een Creature – Human Solider:
Dethrone. Park Heights Maverick can't be blocked by creatures with power two or less. Whenever Park Heights Maverick deals combat damage to𒁃 a player or dies, proliferate.
Dethrone is reappearing in the C22 decks, having last been seen in Commander 2017. If the creature with dethrone attacks the player with the highest life total, it receives a +1/+1 counter. This is meant to be an anti-weenie tool, giving you a way to get through someone’s endless wall of creature tokens and then 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:proliferate from it.
Family's Favor
Two generic, one green Enchantment:
Whenever you attack, put a shield counter on target attacking creature. Until end of turn, it gai♍ns "whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, remove a shield count from it. If you do, draw a card."
Family’s Favor makes shield counters that get destroyed whether your creature takes damage 💯or not, but getting through to deal damage to your opponent does reward you with one extra card. You could combine it with cards that remove the creature from combat to let them keep the shield counter permanently, though.
Gavel of the Righteous
Two generic Artifact – Equipment:
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put a charge counter on Gavel of the Righteous. Equipped creature gets plus +1/+1 for each counter on Gavel of the Righteous. As long as Gavel of the Righteous has four more 🎉counters on it, equipped creature has double strike.
Equip: pay three generic or remove a counte🍃r from Gavel o𒁏f the Righteous.
This is a very, very slow card. Unless you can proliferate or speed those counteꦕrs up, it’s not likely to make too big of a difference in all but the longest-running games. The equip cost of removing a counter from it is interesting, though.
Denry Klin, Editor in Chief
Two generic, oꦅne white, one blue Legendary Creature – Cat Ad🔯visor:
Denry Klin, Editor in Chief enters the battlefield with your cho🍒ice of a +1/+1, first strike or vigilance counter on it. Whenever a nontoken creature you control enters the battlefield, if Denry has counters ꧋on it, put the same number and kind of counters on that creature.
Deny Klin is straight fire – build them up nice and strong with all kinds of counters, and everything else will receive the same treatment. The only downside is that, as Denry is only 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an Azorius creature, they can&rsqu🌠o;t be an alternative commander for the green/blue/white Bedecked Brokers deck, you’ll h🍨ave to make a new white/blue only one.
Agent’s Toolkit
One generic, o♏ne green, one blue Artifact &ndasꦗh; Clue:
Agent’s Toolkit enters the battlefield with 🐎a +1/+1 counter, a flying counter, a deathtouch counter, and a shield counter on it. Whenever a creature enters the battlefiel𒆙d under your control, you may move a counter from Agent’s Toolkit onto that creature.
Pay two generic, sacrifice Agent&rsquo꧒;s To🦩olkit: draw a card.
Wizards has been experimenting with nontoken versions of popular token artifacts, like Treasure and Clues in the last few months. Agent’s Toolkit has the usual sacr🍰ifice-for-card-draw effect that makes Clues decent, and throws in the ability toඣ confer counters onto other creatures as a bonus. It’s cool that Agent’s Toolkit ‘runs out’, giving you a clear time when you should sacrifice it for the draw.
Brokers Confluence
Two generic, o꧂ne green, one whꦡite, one blue Instant:
Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once🔴.
- Proliferate.
- Target creature phases out.
- Counter target activated or triggered ability.
These effects are𝓡 small as far as 💖a Confluence goes. This is meant to either let you manage the stack or defend yourself from an annoyingly persistent board wipe, or just let you throw more counters onto everything. It isn’t amazing though, especially for that high mana value.
Maestros Massacre
The Maestro Massacre is the red/black/blue deck of Commander 22, focused on the vampiric assassin art hordes, the Maest🐠ros. They&rsquo𒆙;re the ‘old money’ of New Capenna, using their incredibly long lives to steal everything decadent and luxurious in the plane and keep it for themselves.
The deck’s face Commander is the new leader of the Maestros, following the death of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lord Xander at the hands of Ob Nixilis in the Streets of New Capenna story. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Anhelo, the Painter (who we met on day one of the New Capenna previews) gives the first instant or sorcery you cast each turn 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a casualty cost of two, letting you sacrifice creatures to creat𝔍e a copy of that spell. In Commander, with all its big and splashy spells, that is terrifying. But the deck also has a few other surprises, like some fantastic permanent copying effects and, weirdly, a Phoenix tribal commander.
Extravagant Replication
Four generic, two blue Enchantment:
At t⛦he beginning of your upkeep, create a token that’s a copy of another nonland permanent you controꦜl.
For so few words, this card packs a lot of punch. Creating a token copy of anything you like is a rare ability, only being found on a few cards like Mirrorpool before now. Doing that e🍰very turn without any ‘sacrifice at the end of your turn’ limitations is wild, making this easily one of the best cards in an already amazing deck.
Flawless Forgery
Three generic, two blue Sorcery:
Casualty 3. Exile target instant or sorcery card ജfrom an opponent’s graveya🐈rd. Copy that card. You may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.
Graveyard hate with the bonus of copying the spell you 🉐get rid of is fantastic. You can get rid of a sneaky flashback spell or copy someone else’s Time Warp to pull way ahead, and with Casualty you’ve got two cards from three players’ graveyards to pick from. We saw how powerful Mnemonic Deluge was in Commander Legends, and this is only a slightly weaker form of that.
Sinister Concierge
One generic, one blu⛦e Creature – Human Wizard:
When Sin𝐆ister Concierge dies, you may exile it and put three time counters on it. If you do, exile up to one target creature an opponent controls and put three time counters on it. Each card exiled this way that doesn’t have suspend gains suspend.
Suspend keeps a card in exile until all its time count🐠ers have been removed, and then you can cast them without paying their mana cost. Unless your opponent can exile SInister Concierge, they’ll keep coming back repeatedly and taking creatures with them every time they die.
Body Count
Two generic, one black Instant:
Spectacle: on𓃲e black. Draw a card for each creature that died under your contr🎀ol this turn.
Addendum isn’t the only Ravnica guild mechanic making a comeback in Commander 2022: the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Rakdos’ Spectacle, which lets you pay an alternative cost if an opponent has lost life this turn෴, it also popping up in the Maestros Massacre deck. This will be the perfect c♓ard to cast after a board wipe or in an Aristocrats deck to gain major card advantage.
Waste Management
Two generic, one black Instant:
Kicker: three generic, one black.
Exile up 🌳to two target cards from a single graveyard. If this spell was kicked, instead exile target player’s graveyard. Create a 2/2 black Rogue creature token for each creat🐷ure card exiled this way.
The flavour on this card is cool – the dead creatures mysteriously vanish, and in their place a load of scoundrels pop up out of nowhere. This could be a powerful card, no matter if you use it as graveyard hate or a fin🧸ishing piece for a commander like Syr Konrad, the Grim.
Xander’s Pact
Four generic, two black Sorcery:
Casualty 2. Each opponent🉐 exiles the top c💃ard of their library. You may cast spells from among those cards this turn. If you cast a spell this way, pay life equal to that spell’s mana value rather than pay its mana cost.
Black loves to pay life to do stuff, and in Commander with its higher starting total that isn’t going to𓆉 be too restrictive of a cost. Paying the👍 casualty cost to have two sets of three cards to pick from is impressive, too.
Dogged Detective
One generic, one black Creature &nd💫ash; Human Rogue:
When 💜Dogged Dౠetective enters the battlefield, surveil 2.
Whenever an opponen🏅t draws their second card each turn, you may return Dogged Detective from your graveyard to your hand.
Another Ravnica mechanic is finally back with surveil. This could be a persistent problem if one pl꧟ayer is drawling lots of cards, and it♛'s a good sacrifice for your casualty spells.
Make An Example
Three generic, one black Sorcery:
Each opponent separates the creatur𓄧es they control into two piles. For each opponent, you choose ♐one of their piles. Each opponent sacrifices creatures in their chosen pile.
Separating cards into two piles and picking one is always a fun Commander mechanic, thanks to cards like Boneyard Parley and F𒁏act or Fiction. This one is a bit easier to understand, too, as you’re only having to pick from creatures on the battlefield that you’ve already seen in play. This is also the second Maestros-themed card that pairs very nicely wiౠth Kaldheim’s persistent problem; Tergrid, God of Fright.
Spellbinding Soprano
One generic, one red Creature – Human Bard:
Whenever Spellbinding Soprano attacks, instant and sorcery spells you cast this tu🧔rn cost one generic less to cast.
Encore: three generic, one red.
Anhelo wants you to play instants and sorceries, and Spellbinding Soprano reduces the cost even further. This also fits nicely into attack triggers decks like Isshin or Wulfgar of Icewind Dale, working as a slightly more flexible version of 🎉Neon Dynasty&rꩵsquo;s Peerless Samurai.
Audacious Swap
Three generic, one red Instant:
Casualty 2. The owner of target nonenchantment permanent shuffles it into their library, then exiles🎶 the top card of their library. If it’s a land card, theyജ put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, they may cast it without paying its mana cost.
Audacious Swap has the same drawback as the main Streets of New Capenna set’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Swindler’s Scheme: it seems powerful at first but has such a massive downside t💟hat it could lose you the game. While y𒁏ou can tuck a scary piece back into their deck, there’s every chance they could hit that one card they need to win the game, and the risk is only doubled when you pay the casualty cost.
Smuggler’s Buggy
Four generic Artifact – Vehicle:
Hideaway 4. Whenever Smuggler’s Buggy deals combat damage to a player, you may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost. If you do🃏, return Smuggler’s Buggy to its owner’s hand.
This is the first artifact with hideaway, and its method to play the card for free is incredibly easy to pull off. Best of all, it bounces back your hand to do it again if you succeed, making this a total powerhouse of a card. One criticism worth making is that, after the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:huge variety of vehicles we saw in Neon Dynast💜y, all💧 New Capenna’s vehicles look very similar. From the art alone, it’s easy to get this muddled up with Unlicensed Hearse, Getaway Car, and Mysterious Limousine.
Determined Iteration
One generic, one red Enchantment:
At the beginning of combat on your turn, populate. The token created this way gai🐻ns haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Considering populate requires you to already have a token to copy, being forced to sacrifice it isn't very good. Then again, red doesn't normally have access to populate, so that is𒅌 likely how it is being balanced against green and its usual creature token nonsense.Goa
Syrix, Carrier of the Flame
Tꦡwo g﷽eneric, one black, one red Legendary Creature – Phoenix:
Flying, haste. At the beginning of ﷽each end step, if a creature card left your graveyard this turn, target Phoenix you control deals damage equal to its power to any target.
Whenever another Phoenix you control dies, you may cast Syrix, Carrier of the Flame from your grav𓂃eyard.
Finally, phoenix tribal finally gets its own commander. It’s slightly odd that it’s a Rakdos (black/red) commander, as phoenixes are a uniformlyღ mono-red creature type, but it also makes sense. After all, phoenixes are known for rising from the dead, and black is the best colour for creature reanimation. Though this is a legendary creature in the deck, it isn’t a valid alternative commander for it, as it lacks the required blue in its colour identity.
Cryptic Pursuit
Two generic, one blue, one red Enchantment:
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell from your hand, manifest the top card of your li𝕴brary.
Whenever a face-down creature you control dies, exile it if it’s an instant or sorcery 🍬card. You may cast that card until the ജend of your next.
Manifesting a card means putting it face down as a 2/2 creature. As these spells don’t gain the morph ability, you can turn them face-up by paying the mana cost, which makes it a good🌳 way make the spells you have access to more unpredictable. With Cryptic Pursuit, the creature dying doesn’t mean you lose access to the spell too, which allows manifested creatures to be even more difficult for your opponents to deal with.
Maestros Confluence
Three generic, one blue, one black,ಌ one red Sorcery:
Choose t🍸hree. You may choose the same mode more th🍸an once.
- Return target monocolored instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
- Target creature gets +3/-3 until end of turn.
- Goad each creature target player controls.
We knew Commander 2022 was going to have a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:decent amount of goad in it after it became the first-ever 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:“Commander Evergreen keyword”. We weren’t quite expecting a spell that could goad every creature the rest of the table controls, though. That could be an easy game-ender as it not only deals lots of damage to every opponent, it also taps most of them to allow you to swing in for a victory. The♎ other two abilities are also helpful, but the goad is the big money play here.
Parnesse, the Subtle Brush
Two generic, one blue, one black, one re🥃d Legendary Creature – Vampire Wizard:
Whenever you or a permanent yoജu control becomes the target of a sp💫ell or ability an opponent controls, counter that spell or ability unless that player pays four life.
Whenever you copy a spell, up to one target opponent may also copy tha🐬t spell. They may choo🎃se new targets for that copy.
The alternative commander for the Maestros Massacre deck is Parnesse, the Subtleꦛ Brush. Many players have looked at it and asked why it doesn’t just say “you and permanents you control have ‘Ward: pay for life’”, but the reason for it is because players can’t have Ward the way it’s currently written in the rules. ༒It’s keyword only given to permanents.
The second ability is interesting, too. As it’s a ‘may’ ability it isn’t a downside, and you can’t force a negative spell lik꧟e a One With Nothing on them either. 🥂But could be a powerful political tool in a “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” kind of way.