Commander Legends Includes and Testing!

Ah yes... Commander. On the wide spectrum of magic formats, Commander may be one of the furthest from Cube in multiple aspects. Unfortunately, this has been reflected in the amount of cards that have been playable in Cube from each new Commander release over the past few years. Lately we have been lucky if we get 1 cubeable card per release.

Fortunately, Commander Legends takes this trend and bucks it.

Hailed as Commander meets Conspiracy by some members of the cube community, this set has brought back the Monarch mechanic with a few new cycles that range from casual to potentially broken, depending on the power level of your list.

With that being said, Monarch is one of the most polarizing mechanics in the game when it comes to cube curators. Palace Jailer and Custodi Lich have been in many cubes since their release and the play patterns that they create with the monarch mechanic are not always welcomed. Personally I have always been in this camp and have chosen not to include monarch as a mechanic in my list... Until now.

Prior to Commander Legends, Palace Jailer and Custodi Lich were the only real cubeable monarch cards printed. Monarch as a mechanic is different from most mechanics in that its power is relevant to how many other monarch cards are in the format. The more cards there are that enable players to become the monarch, the harder it is to keep the monarchy. I am going to be adding both of these cards and will discuss the new Commander Legends monarch enablers I am going to be adding to keep them in check.

Monarch Includes and Tests:

Court of Grace looks like it will be the strongest of the cycle and will be going into my list for Gisela, the Broken Blade.

This "Biggerblossom" provides its own evasive monarch retrievers and if you can protect yourself with them, eventually this card just wins on its own.

It will play great in a lot of decks and I feel like this is the strongest card I will be including from the set.

Fall from Favor is one of two 3-mana monarch enablers in blue and although I think Court of Cunning will probably kill faster, getting milled can lead to some feel bad moments a la Jace, Memory Adept.

This card is similar to Palace Jailer and Custodi Lich in that it removes a body that could then threaten to take monarch from you. A three mana freeze effect that draws a card is going to be great for tempo decks.

By the way, is this now the best card in Pauper cube?

Emberwilde Captain is going to be going into my list over Ogre Battledriver who has been in my list far too long.

Similar to the Fall from Favor/Court of Cunning situation I think this isn't as strong as Court of Ire but getting burned for 7 because you couldn't get an attacker through feels bad.

I'm not super high on this card but it at least deserve a test and leads to some interesting play patterns and decisions based on how it plays with monarch.

Court of Bounty doesn't have as strong a base effect as some of the other monarch enablers but it benefits from being in the color that can best defend the monarch being filled with go wide strategies and tramplers to help keep the cards flowing.

Combined with the fact that green 4's are a notoriously weak cube section, I think this will give a good option for green card advantage as well as ramp decks looking to pump out some early threats and snowball their creature advantage.

Non-Monarch Includes:

Hullbreacher is one of two flash "hatebears" and while technically they aren't bears they definitely bring the hate.

Hullbreacher is the perfect hoser to balance all the monarch cards I am adding. A 3/2 flash in a color that plays with counters is a fine floor and the potential tempo swings are huge.

Remember it isn't a ETB trigger so this card will continue to screw over your opponents cheap cantrips, and counters like Remand, Mystic Confluence, and Cryptic Command negating the draw effect. Not to mention targeting your opponent with Vendillion Clique while Hullbreacher is on the field will just feel so good.

Opposition Agent might be the most interesting card of the set with a unique ability and the potential for some back breaking plays.

Flashing this into play when your opponent cracks a fetchland is an easy 3 for 1, putting them down a land and you up both a land and a creature.

Just like Hullbreacher, being a static effect will continue to disrupt your opponents tutors and big plays like Natural Order and Entomb, not only countering them, but also removing their potential game winning targets as well. Worst case scenario this is a 3-cmc Last Gasp that flashes in to trade with an attacker.

Magus of the Order brings us the long anticipated conclusion to the Magus Cycle and while the others have been all but useless for cube, this one shows some promise.

"So it's a strictly worse Natural Order?" is the worst hot take of the set. No it isn't as strong, but it also plays in a very different way. Magus can be cast on an open board after a wrath for example and isn't a dead card. You can't get 2 for 1'd by a counterspell like you can with Natural Order. You can chump block two attackers and then activate at instant speed saving yourself damage and giving your threat pseudo-haste for a nasty crack back.

Magus of the Order seems very versatile and while it isn't Natural Order, it doesn't have to be to make the list.

Sweetgums! I love this cards name. I am going to slot this over Earthshaker Giant for a test and while it probably isn't as good. It is guaranteed to be more fun.

As a mechanic, Cascade might be one of the highest on the fun scale which makes it high on my cube want list. Hitting a hermit and getting an army of giant squirrels is the dream, but flashing in a 3/6 blocker and a 4/4 dork is still good value. More than enough to throw off your opponents combat damage and flashing in some big power at the end of turn when your opponent wasn't expecting to need blockers is going to end a lot of games.

So there we have it! Commander Legends is looking like it going to be a pretty good contributor for cube lists even if monarch isn't your cup of tea. I'm not sure if I will keep monarch permanently, but I am excited to give it a whirl!