Given the flurry of new product releases we thought it would be useful to do a follow-up to each set with a list of the top 10 or so cards that would seem to have an impact on the format. This week’s Memory Jar is flashing all the way back to June and the release of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate to talk about cards that will become staples, or combo pieces, or have a lot of value in niche decks with an eye toward Commander.
Creatures
Displacer Kitten
This is a combo piece or an insane value piece.
Ellyn Harbreeze, Busybody
This goes berserk with cards like Smothering Tithe, which is in a lot of white decks, so….
Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy
Really big combo piece to storm off.
Ingenious Artillerist
Dangerous, combo piece with various things, fits right into Prosper, Tome-Bound and other such decks.
Jaheira, Friend of the Forest
Given the rapid proliferation of Treasures and Clues, this could get really dangerous.
Lae’zel, Vlaakith’s Champion
This is a big piece for things like Planeswalkers, and also weird cards like Sage of Hours. Can be a combo piece that lets you take infinite turns or various things like that.
Spells
Agent of the Iron Throne
Hugely big and massive card that will show up in all kinds of black decks in the 99 as well as being built around.
Altar of Bhaal
Pricy, and exiling creatures is frustrating, but repeatedly returning creatures to the battlefield is insanely dangerous, and can also be a combo piece. That ends games. The whole skeleton thing is mostly going to be ignored I think for a 2 drop.
Bane’s Contingency
This is okay, but I think it will be overplayed. Nonetheless, if your Commander is a huge target it makes sense.
Black Market Connections
Huge, amazing card. See it everywhere. Crazy.
Delayed Blast Fireball
Really solid control card for red with a nice asymmetric effect.
Dream Fracture
This is bad but it will be massively overplayed.
Inspiring Leader
This is quite dangerous for token decks, especially partner token decks, since you’re slamming out +4/+4 on all your tokens. 4 is a lot. But even +2/+2 is good.
Navigation Orb
Colorless land ramp is always valuable. It’s expensive, but it is what it is.
Patriar’s Seal
Amazing for decks whose Commander has to tap to do something important.
The Land
Baldur’s Gate
There are now 20 Gates, and this makes using this for a mana source relatively viable. The new Gates are just flat out stronger than old Gates, and that’s a big change. We miss you Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, rest in peace.
If there are cards from Battle for Baldur’s Gate that you think should be added to the list, that you’ll be putting in lots of decks, please leave a comment below.
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