(Generous Gift | Art by Ron Spears)

Mastering Commander

Welcome to Rookie Roadmap, where we give newer Magic players a helpful guide and easy-to-use map for the latest and greatest set releases. Ever since the first Masters set, players have joked that any supplemental set from Jumpstart to Commander Legends is secretly the Commander Masters; with reprints aimed at keeping staples priced low for Commander players. Finally, those jokes are no longer necessary, because this set really is Commander Masters (CMM). One of the best things about reprints is their accessibility, whether that's in buying price or their proven history in the format. If you're a long-time player eager for new reprint prices or a beginner looking to finally invest in the format, here's your beginner's guide for what to look out for in Commander Masters.

Choose Your Fighter

As with every set, Commander Masters is accompanied by four preconstructed Commander decks. Unlike a normal set, however, they are not necessarily connected to the themes and mechanics of the main set. Instead, they are supplemental and standalone, allowing the designers to get old characters onto cards and revisit fan-favorite mechanics and creature types.

Eldrazi Unbound

One of Magic's signature villains, the Eldrazi, make their return in Eldrazi Unbound, led by Zhulodok, Void Gorger. The deck leans heavily into casting big colorless spells, as Zhulodok, Void Gorger lets them Cascade twice, allowing you to chain together powerful spells like It That Betrays, Flayer of Loyalties, and Rise of the Eldrazi. Colorless decks often struggle with card advantage in Commander, and double Cascade triggers are a great way to work around this. The alternate commander in this deck, Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate, also addresses the card advantage problem by Manifesting cards from your library when it dies. You can then use those colorless tokens to attack or flip over into actual creatures with Ugin's Mastery.

Sliver Swarm

Another iconic Magic creature type, Slivers, reappear with a brand new five color commander: Sliver Gravemother. Slivers grow stronger the more of them you have, so being able to gain three copies of the best ones with the ability Encore seems like an easy recipe for success. Some Slivers like Cloudshredder Sliver don't do anything extra in multiples, but others are more impactful. Multiple copies of Harmonic Sliver and Lazotep Sliver all give each Sliver you control multiple instances of their effects. If you'd like to spread this power to creatures of other types, Rukarumel, Biologist turns all of your creatures into Slivers. You can also use Rukarumel for other typal shenanigans, similar to Arcane Adaptation.

Enduring Enchantments

Thanks to Enduring Enchantments, we finally have two excellent Abzan enchantment commanders. Anikthea, Hand of Erebos wants to pull enchantments out of the graveyard as 3/3 creatures with menace. Sagas help keep your graveyard full, while Eidolon of Blossoms and Narci, Fable Singer help reload your hand. Those tokens also trigger Constellation effects, such as Archon of Sun's Grace and Boon of the Spirit Realm, making your army of tokens truly deadly.

Planeswalker Party

Finally, we come to a character you probably hadn't heard of before, Commodore Guff, leading a Planeswalker Party. This deck (rather obviously focused around planeswalkers) wants to slowly accumulate value through their activated abilities until you finally win. This could be with Sarkhan the Masterless and Sparkshaper Visionary turning all your planeswalkers into flying creatures, an army of tokens buffed by Elspeth, Sun's Champion, or just having both Chandra, Awakened Inferno and Chandra, Legacy of Fire in play.

As always, these decks are designed to be played against each other. If you want to step things up a notch, you can also check out our upgrade guides written by the Scrap Trawlers. They've written in-depth reviews of each deck if you want to be sure they're exactly what you're looking for.

Making a Comeback

With all of the new cards limited to the Commander precon decks, the real draw (pun intended) of Commander Masters lies in its many reprints. This is a great opportunity to get your hands on powerful cards that have been historically expensive. Deflecting Swat, Deadly Rollick, and Fierce Guardianship are all getting reprinted, along with each of the Medallions. This is also the first time Capture of Jingzhou is being reprinted, so there are a ton of new combos to discover.

Fans of Reanimator decks will also be happy to see both Razaketh, the Foulblooded and Archfiend of Despair, while Aristocrats players are getting brand new art for Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder. Other notable reprints include Mangara, the Diplomat, Savage Beating, Arachnogenesis, and The Ur-Dragon.

Especially for players who've recently gotten into Commander, Commander Masters might be the perfect time to snag old Commander cards you may have missed the first time around. Meren of Clan Nel Toth and The Ur-Dragon are both powerful commanders from previous preconstructed decks. Sun Quan, Lord of Wu and Chainer, Dementia Master are both old cards that can't be reprinted easily outside of a release like this.

Drafting A Deck

Commander Masters was also designed with the intention to draft Commander decks to play against your friends. This works a lot like a normal draft. Each player starts with three packs which you pass around the table in alternating left-right order. However, each pack in CMM has 20 cards, and you pick two cards at a time. Additionally, at the end of the draft you'll build a 60-card deck that can include as many copies of any card as you drafted. Otherwise, normal Commander rules apply. All your cards must be in your commander's color identity and your starting life is 40.

There's just one more small exception. For the purposes of draft, every mono-color legendary creature is considered to have Partner. This helps make sure you have enough useful cards, and makes sure everyone isn't fighting over a small pool of multi-color options.

Drafting can be a great way for established players to re-ignite their passion and deckbuilding creativity in the game. Being forced to use cards you wouldn't otherwise and apply cards in unique new ways is a great way to get a fresh take on Magic and the Commander format. Playing Sealed Constructed is also a great way to introduce friends to the game. The limited card pool keeps things comprehensible, while still allowing for plenty of personal customization. It also ensures that you don't win just because you have more "good" cards.

The Gathering

Commander Masters is a great set for remembering that Magic is really about "the Gathering". Of course, some of us play to win. Some of us just want the shiniest cards or the craziest deck at the table. Thankfully, Commander Masters really does let you have it all. And whether you pick up the precons, organize a draft, or even just buy singles to add to your decks, you can't play Commander without a group of friends.

Ben Doolittle

Ben was introduced to Magic during Seventh Edition and has played on and off ever since. A Simic mage at heart, he loves being given a problem to solve. When not shuffling cards, Ben can be found lost in a book or skiing in the mountains of Vermont.