Hello everyone! All the spoilers for the new team based draft set Battlebond are out now and the set looks like a lot of fun! The Village Geek is having a release party June 2nd so grab your best friend and play in the two-headed giant sealed event.
Rather than just a single card, I had to pick a favorite cycle to talk about today and that cycle is the “Friend or Foe” cycle. Including Regna’s Sanction, Zndrsplt’s Judgment, Virtus’s Manuever, Khorvath’s Fury, and Pir’s Whim. While none of these cards are what I would call exciting for Legacy/Vintage (two of the three formats they will be legal in), I am very excited to try them out in various Commander decks!
When I sit down to play Commander either my plan is be the biggest baddest at the table or to be more subtle and use politics to secure a victory from nowhere and all five of these can fit either strategy. If you want to push everyone back a step you can choose yourself as the only friend and set the table against you, though you had better hope the benefit is enough to weather the beating you might be in for. I think Regna’s Sanction in a token swarm deck might be the best suited for this; buff your whole team and take out almost all the blockers your opponents have might just win on the spot. I am excited to try Khorvath’s Fury in my The Locust God deck to get some splash damage in and create a bunch of insects too.
On the politicking side you can knock down someone pulling ahead and help catch the others up, like getting rid of a scary enchantment like Doubling Season before it can be used and ramp everyone else with Pir’s Whim, or getting ride of a suited up Voltron commander while bolstering everyone’s defenses with Virtus’s Manuever or Zndrsplt’s Judgment. The level of flexibility of these cards makes their use near limitless to balance the table or to pull you ahead.
There is a third playstyle that some (strange) people will definitely be eager to play with these new cards, commanders that just love everyone at the table like Phelddagrif. What better way to tell everyone you’re their friend than to choose “Friend” for everyone and let the bounties flow. Some poeple want to watch the world burn, others want to see everyone get everything they ever wanted and this new cycle even will let you do that.
With these few examples for commander I hope you are as excited as I am for these new flexible cards. Until next time!
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