On top of the coverage for Magic’s newest set, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Goonhammer is going to end 2025 with some deep looks at some of the game’s most played Creature types. These strategies, called tribal, typal, or even just [insert type]-matters primarily manifest as midrangey board-centric playstyles, and without a doubt are the most popular hook to theme a Commander deck around. Now, I have some mixed feelings on the fact that typal is so popular, which I’ll talk about in Thursday’s article on Eldrazi, but one of the coolest facets of Avatar is that it’s introducing two new Commander options that mention types we’ve not seen formally-supported before: Noble & Bard. Whenever Wizards decides to break new ground like this, taking a look at the scaffolding that exists for these types can be a great way to touch on new playstyles or synergies not thought about before! Moreover, not unlike Jenova, Ancient Calamity teeing up further Mutant support in 2026’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (a phrase that stabs at my mind), I fully expect each of these to receive some more love in future sets. For now though, let’s talk about Lo and Li, Twin Tutors & Chong and Lily, Nomads.
This is part of a new shortform series for Goonhammer where I’m covering rapid-fire concepts for Commanders I couldn’t cover in a full Commander Focus, so if you like what you see, certainly let us know!
Commanders of Commanders
Lo and Li provide you with a tutor in the Command Zone, something potent but not unique to them as an option. Black is known for its capacity to search through ones’ library, and this limiting you to only Nobles & Lessons is a bit limiting—though vital to note is that Black’s Lessons are among the best. While on the board, Lo and Li give your pertinent types Lifelink, which helps you play to the long game, but a better question is what you’re actually doing with the Nobles you have access to. Of the Black Nobles, more than half are Legendary, and many of them are popular Commanders in their own right. Ayara, First of Locthwain, Lord Skitter, Sewer King, and more make up the ranks of available Creatures, giving you another knob to twist in terms of synergies. That is to say, to be Noble makes it likely to be Legendary, and therefore Historic. To that end, you could build Lo and Li as a Commander smorgasbord, with tons of cards that flip the game on their head, like Zenos yae Galvus, available without telegraphing them in the Command Zone.
More than that though, the non-Legendary Nobles are also plenty interesting if not appropriately stifling. See, the idea of a ‘lord’ in Magic is tied to the proviso that these cards give some kind of static, specific buff. Since the printing of Lord of Atlantis with the game’s inception, this term has saddled Nobles, and without sufficient synergy your Ardyn, the Usurpers & Tomb Tyrants do little to help a Noble-themed strategy. You can of course double-dip with Changelings, or even Maskwood Nexus-style cards, but broadly these won’t be up to snuff without secondary sources of tutoring. The exception proves the rule though, as Markov Baron is plenty interesting even discounting her static buff. Having both Convoke & Madness makes active a number of potential combos, from chaining together Skirge Familiar lines to token-producers, all provided by easy access in the Command Zone. This could of course be done by something like Sidisi, Undead Visier, but Lo and Li also helping your toolbox of specific answers keep you alive by way of Lifelink is nothing to scoff at.
The Highwalker Saga
Next up is a type I’ve personally heard multiple ask for, when it comes to specific Commanders: Bards. Given Wizards also owns Dungeons & Dragons, and Bards are almost always in the top 5 most-chosen classes for that system (second, in Baldur’s gate 3), it was a matter of time before they got their time in the Magic spotlight. Appropriately, like skalds of old their identity is tied to that of Sagas, with Chong & Lily providing a means of accelerating their triggers, and pumping the board to lethal effect. The benefit bards have to Chong & Lily is ostensibly to give them a means of triggering without attacking, sending some other songsmith to do their dirty work if combat gets messy, or they lack Haste. While not a deep pool, there’s a number of solid Bards to choose from in Monored, with Raccoon Rallier as setup, or Firbolg Flutist as payoff. There’s even Moku, Meandering Drummer from this very set to give additional tools to the type!
Inextricably Tied
That being said, beyond making the trigger easier, Chong & Lily don’t actually synergize directly with Bards. They’re by far more interested in swarming the board with Sagas and cheap 1/1s, than playing every Bard available to the color. The boon here is that you can avoid utter wrecks like One-Clown Band while retaining better options, but they’re certainly going to do for Bards what Magda, Brazen Outlaw did for Dwarves. Still, you’re very often able to get as much as +5/+0 with that second ability from including cheap Sagas that churn into more of them, and Red has a shocking depth of playable batteries for your aggressive push. The Flux gets up to 6 Lore counters, and options like Origin of the Hidden Ones practically build the ideal board for Chong & Lily on their own, among others. Plus, if you find a way to loop Crystal Chimes or read through ~3 or more Sagas in a turn with Gerrard’s Hourglass Pendant, you can keep up in value with more midrangey Saga Commanders. Just be careful not to accidentally kill your Saga Creatures prematurely.
Treating this Commander like a weird Monored Enchantress strategy isn’t a bad start, though. I’ve mentioned Crystal Chimes as something you can loop over and over with a Goblin Engineer, but the same is true of Salvager of Ruin, or in the case of the Hourglass Pendant, temporary copies to exile instead of the real deal. Red also gets All Will Be One, a nasty enchantment you can combo with a few other tools should you wish (e.g. The Red Terror), but I’d like to call out Fires of Invention as a Standard staple in its day that has a home here. While it locks you from Instant-speed casting, you basically get to keep your land mana around for costs and abilities, freecasting two spells each turn. This is great to ensure your Sagas make their way back to the board, as they’re otherwise huge tempo losses, and you can play any number of Lands which become—or create—Creatures for Chong & Lily to buff. The tools to make Monored Saga-Enchantress work are there, albeit scant and a bit janky, but what’s a good power ballad without some improvisation?
Breaking New Ground
While it’s extremely neat to see Wizards open new paths to typal strategies, I’d be lying if I said either of these options thrilled me out of the gate. Lo and Li are perhaps a bit expensive, and Nobles tend not to synergize with themselves, much less Lessons. Meanwhile, Chong and Lily might let Bards tell some fairly aggressive stories, but to go fully into Bard typal isn’t necessary given their own type; at worst, they can trigger themselves, and a deck led by them is far closer to Saga-by-way-of-Bards, rather than vice versa. Still, these do open the floodgates for further exploration, and show that Wizards is willing to give these types a chance. If they receive some love by the community, not unlike Minotaurs or some other more obscure type, we might see them get stronger and stronger. After all, we expect more Lessons in Secrets of Strixhaven, and Bards in The Hobbit. Rarely are Commanders like this teed up with no intended payoff. So, while neither is especially compelling now, what is an engaging thought is the feeling of the strategy growing, getting new tools, as the years plod ever onward. Room to grow, over centralizing on a one-off parasitic mechanic (like Speed, for example), is almost always preferable when it comes to making a Commander deck truly yours.
With that being said, what mechanic or Commander should I cover next on The Puzzlebox? This is a series built on rapid prototyping underutilized mechanics for Commander, and while I have a few ideas racing around my head, I’d love to hear more ideas from my readers!
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