(Kassandra, Eagle Bearer | art by Jessie Lam)

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From the Shadows

Hello and welcome to the Assassin's Creed Gold set review for enemy and wedge cards. My name is Josh, and while I haven't played any Assassin's Creed games, I'll make sure to give these new cards a fair shake. This set is full of new Assassin creatures, giving huge support to an underdeveloped archetype. So, let's leap from the rooftops into the Haystack and jump right into this set review.

Mythics

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

It's good that Assassin's Creed is coming out with so many good Assassin cards, because there weren't too many notable ones that I feel would make this deck work. While limited to Assassin creatures, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad has the potential to be a threatening commander that can snowball into victory. Even if he's removed, we'll still have access to those creatures with memory counters. And as a three-mana-value commander, it won't be hard to cast him again on later turns.

Each turn, we'll be able to swing in with token creatures that we don't have to worry about losing in combat, and the new Assassins from this set are perfect to go right into this deck. Merciless Harlequin draws a card when they enter, Poison-Blade Mentor can give our first strike commander deathtouch so we won't ever have to worry about him dying to a big blocker, and Brotherhood Ambushers is just a free 6/3 we get each combat. We'll want Assassins that have useful ETB triggers like Unscrupulous Contractor and Ruthless Lawbringer. And if they die in combat or become sacrificed, we can refill our hand with Species Specialist. While it's not an Assassin (even though it looks like one), it'll provide us with a ton of value.

Now, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad does say that it needs to be an Assassin creature that can be exiled, but once that card is exiled, we'll be able to make copies of it each turn no matter what its type is. So, if we have anything like Maskwood Nexus out, we can exile any creature in our graveyard. Skemfar Shadowsage can drain our opponents each turn if we copy it with our commander. The same goes for Mirkwood Bats or [/el]Nadiar's Nightblade[/el], which are good in the 99 already but we would have access to them each turn. Maskwood Nexus isn't the only card that can make this happen, Conspiracy and Ashes of the Fallen provide redundancy for this strategy, and we just got this effect with Roshan, Hidden Magister, so it feels like it was meant to be.

Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh

Cleopatra has a pretty clear strategy; we want legendary creatures that synergize with counters and sacrifice them to draw cards. Nikara, Lair Scavenger will draw an additional card when a creature with counters dies, and Erebos, Bleak-Hearted will draw cards and be a sac outlet when we need it. We can have creatures enter the battlefield with counters with Arwen, Weaver of Hope or Renata, Called to the Hunt. And there are plenty have synergies with sacrificing creatures: Reyhan, Last of the Abzan, moves counters around when creatures die, Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager gets bigger when creatures with counters die or can make a large Hydra when it dies, and Honest Rutstein can bring back our legendary creatures while also making them easier to cast. Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh feels like the glue for all these legendary creatures that care about counters with an aristocrat spin on it.

Eivor, Battle-Ready

Eivor is just a good clean wincon in the command zone for Equipment decks. The fact that she has haste means she will come out of nowhere in the 99 of other Equipment decks or will always be a threat in the command zone. Vigilance also makes her a great blocker when fully equipped. Bloodforged Battle-Axe is a must-have for this deck and that goes for any Equipment that makes copies of itself. She could lead a pretty simple but effective strategy.

Kassandra, Eagle Bearer

Kassandra searches up The Spear of Leonidas from anywhere and puts it onto the battlefield. Since we'll almost always have access to this card, let's talk about the spear as well. If the plan is to equip Kassandra with more Equipment, the double strike can end up being lethal, but until then, it isn't worthwhile on a 2/2 with no evasion. We can make a 3/2 Legendary Horse, but only one of those tokens can exist at a time. That leaves us with the rummage ability which will help us churn through our deck. We can use cards like Containment Construct that'll turn that discard into card advantage.

However, the reason we'd choose double strike in some cases is Kassandra's last ability. Creatures that have legendary Equipment attached to them will draw us a card whenever they deal combat damage. For this deck to work, we'll need legendary Equipment to enable the card draw (bonus if they grant evasion).

Notable legendary Equipments include: Sword of the Animist, Shadowspear, Blackblade Reforged, and The Reaver Cleaver. The restriction of needing legendary Equipment won't be much of a limitation with so many of them already being staples in the format.

Rares

Aveline de Grandpré

Deathtouch synergies are nice, but unfortunately, that black pip prevents Aveline from going in Fynn, the Fangbearer or Saryth, the Viper's Fang, but those two will go in the 99 of her deck. Paying three to cast her face down seems like a good way to get her in early with some protection until you're ready to turn her over for her disguise cost when you're about to deal combat damage.

It's more likely that she'll be suited for the 99 in another deck. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Tyvar the Bellicose both want to go wide with creatures with deathtouch, and Aveline can make that army bigger when they connect.

Aya of Alexandria

As the commander of a deck, her ability doesn't look that appealing. At best, you can make three Assassins a turn if you hit each opponent, but since they have to be by historic creatures, that means you'll either be in a legendary matters or artifact deck. Cheap creature producers like Loyal Apprentice will help a lot when you're trying to make as many Assassin tokens each turn. Since these tokens have menace, adding in anthem effects to make them stronger could make a threatening deck. In the 99, this is a great way to enable Assassin synergies.

Bayek of Siwa

Having both Bayek and Aya on the battlefield would get out of hand. It's hard to say who's a better fit in the command zone. From my experience playing Neyali, Suns' Vanguard, having a double strike anthem in the command zone can be super strong. Double strike for historic creatures also makes this a great inclusion in legends matter decks for sure. I can see him being in artifact decks as well, but since he's not an artifact, it's less desirable. He'd be better in decks like Jodah, the Unifier that will trigger from casting Bayek.

Jackdaw

Jackdaw has the potential to draw a lot of cards, but without a way to give it evasion, there isn't a chance your opponents will let this get through. Now, a commander that I do think would be great with Jackdaw, once they're printed, is Bria, Riptide Rogue. If we're in an artifact deck, or making treasure tokens through Storm-Kiln Artist or Professional Face-Breaker, then Jackdaw is a perfect fit for Bria. Bria has enough power to crew the vehicle and give it unblockable. Once Jackdaw connects, we'll refill our hand and continue to overwhelm the board with value.

Mary Read and Anne Bonny

Mary Read and Anne Bonny can easily loot through your deck and provide value when you discard one of the relevant card types. This deck could even have some Merfolk Looter effects to help dig through your deck and ramp. While I see the synergy between Mary Read and Anne Bonny and Jackdaw, The Indomitable and Smuggler's Copter synergize better with our commander. While Mary and Anne do care about Pirates and Vehicles, we're not beholden to that strategy to do whatever we want. So long as we run a bunch of islands, our commander can just be a good way to ramp and draw through our deck and look for pieces of interaction or wincons. I'm not smart enough to know if they combo with anything, but they can certainly help find combo pieces, and Commander Spellbook can help you find some more.

Raven Clan War-Axe

Interesting to see an Equipment tutor for a creature. If Eivor, Battle-Ready isn't your commander but is still a wincon in your deck, Raven Clan War-Axe can always tutor for her. And it can return her from the graveyard to your hand, so if anyone stops you from trying to deal damage to everyone, then the axe can bring her back. If you're running Eivor, you'll want Raven Clan War-Axe too.

Uncommons & Commons

Arbaaz Mir

Arbaaz Mir is essentially aReckless Fireweaver in the command zone. Legends and artifacts are both popular strategies and this commander can gain you life on top of burning opponents. He's also just good in the 99 of those decks as well. The nontoken restriction is sad, but fair.

The list of commanders that will want Arbaaz Mir is huge: Breya, Etherium Shaper, Jodah, the Unifier, Dihada, Binder of Wills. The white pip is notable too. As the commander, you can include mass reanimation spells like Wake the Past or blink spells like Lae'zel's Acrobatics, and trigger Arbaaz Mir to deal a ton of damage to the table.

Bleeding Effect

Odric, Lunarch Marshal on an enchantment looks really good. Definitely worth considering if you're running a deck with multiple creatures keywords, such as Nighthawk Scavenger, but it does require the creature to be in the graveyard. However, if you're in typal strategies like Edgar Markov, you're probably running creatures with good keyword abilities, so you won't have to build a deck around Bleeding Effect to make it work.

Bureau Headmaster

This is just a new Equipment staple, right? I don't believe any other card has both of these effects, short of Bladegraft Aspirant, and at an efficient cost too. Being in the best color for Equipment, this should be an instant staple.

Ezio, Brash Novice

Ezio, Brash Novice feels pretty similar to Ash, Party Crasher; a cheap boros commander that can get bigger through +1/+1 counters each turn. Ezio is just a better Ash, in my opinion. Ezio doesn't require other nonland permanents to come into play to get counters and he gets first strike after two counters. Ezio is a good creature early in the game to attach Equipment and Auras too.

Shao Jun

My one complaint with Sunshot Militia was that you can only activate it at sorcery speed, but not with Shao Jun. Any unused Treasure tokens or artifacts that aren't tapped before your next turn can turned into be free damage. This also works great with all the Equipment strategies we've been talking about, but being in Izzet prevents it from being included with the other Boros commanders from this set. Shao Jun doesn't seem like the most interesting commander, but she is a good inclusion in artifact decks as a potential finisher.

Shay Cormac

A Shadowspear on a stick that can now remove ward. It's an improvement on previous cards with this ability, like Arcane Lighthouse, that help remove anything protecting an opponent's creature. However, these types of cards aren't all that prevalent in commander–besides Shadowspear, and even then that activated ability is less relevant then it being a low-cost Equipment that gives trample and lifelink. With that in mind, Shay Cormac would have to have an additional effect to make him worth running.

However, the other text isn't as exciting. Whenever you target an opponent's creature, they get a bounty counter, and when that creature dies, Shay Cormac gets two +1/+1 counters. Shay being Black/White prevents him from being in a Chevill, Bane of Monsters deck that would've enjoyed more ways to put bounty counters on creatures, and it can't go in Hinata, Dawn-Crowned where that activated ability would've been relevant in a deck that wants to target creatures. It might find a home in Mathas, Fiend Seeker decks that want to remove protection from creatures you want to put bounty counters on, but unfortunately, according to the rules notes for Mathas:

"Creatures that receive a bounty counter other than from Mathas’s ability resolving won’t gain the triggered ability. Creatures that receive more than one bounty counter as Mathas’s ability resolves (most likely due to Doubling Season) won’t have the ability multiple times."

If your meta has a lot of ward commanders, like Voja I think including Shay Cormac in your decks is good to help combat that. But unless you're removing ward 3 or ward of a bigger cost, you're still paying one additional mana to target a creature, and that doesn't feel worth running him.

Don't run this card.

Sincerely,

Storvald <3

A Swift and Clean End

From what we've see, Equipment and Historic decks are going to be getting some really nice upgrades to their lists. There are some neat commanders from this set, but I'm predicting Bureau Headmaster to be the biggest hitter from this list because they're just the best cost reducer for a cheap cost. And with Eivor, Battle-Ready being printed as well, Equipment decks in general are about to be a lot scarier.

That's all I have for you today. Let me what you think of these Assassin's Creed cards. And if you're a fan of the games, let me know in the comments any interesting lore I should know about these new commanders. Comment down below and I'll see you next time!

Joshua Wood

Josh is a creative writer that started playing Magic when Throne of Eldraine was released. He loves entering combat and pressuring life totals, and to him, commander damage is always relevant. Outside of brewing many commander decks, he can be found prepping his D&D campaigns with a cat purring in his lap.