Standard may be considered Magic: The Gathering‘s primary format by Wizards of the Coast, but it’s by no means the most popular. Ever since its consolidation as an official rule set, Commander (or EDH, as it’s traditionally known by fans) has established itself as the go-to format for a huge portion of the Magic community, likely due, in part, to the exponentially larger pool of legal cards available and, of course, the central deck-building restriction of only allowing one of any individual creature, sorcery enchantment or artifact in a 100-card deck.
It’s somewhat surprising, then, given the overt popularity of EDH, that Wizards of the Coast has waited until now to release a dedicated set for Commander designed specifically to be drafted. As revealed earlier in the year, Commander Legends is the name given to that highly anticipated expansion, and it’s out in just a matter of weeks. That proximity means spoiler season is just a stone’s throw away (official card reveals are expected shortly), though it now seems as though one lucky individual has already gotten their hands on early product.
Naturally, the player has proceeded to start leaking the cards online, two of which you can see via the gallery below.
For those not well-versed in German, translations for both Planeswalkers’ Loyalty abilities are as follows:
Tvesh Szat
- +2 create two 0/1 thrull tokens.
- +1 sacrifice a creature or planeswalker, draw 2 if sacced permanent was a commander draw one extra.
- -10 gain control of all commanders and put all commanders from all command zones on the battlefield under your control.
Jeska
- Comes into play with a loyalty counter for each time a commander was cast by you from the command zone.
- 0 choose a creature if that creature would deal damage to an opponent until your next turn it deals three times the damage instead.
- -x jeska deals x damage to up to three targets.
As expected, both of the above are able to serve as Commanders for their respective decks and it goes without saying that Tvesh Szat’s final Loyalty ability, while certainly difficult to pull off, is an effect worthy of being labelled game-winning. Jeska, on the other hand, requires some substantial setup before having an impact on the board, but can certainly snowball out of control if not immediately addressed by the opponent.
A promising first look at Commander Legends, then, and we can’t wait to see what else is to come throughout the week for Magic: The Gathering‘s most anticipated set of 2020. Stay tuned for more details!
