We won't be getting Conspiracy online as a complete set. That sucks, but according to this announcement, "certain cards from the set will be made available in Vintage Masters." My guess is that many of the good ones will make their way online through that and as future promo cards. Fingers crossed!

Since we'll be getting our digital hands on some of these cards eventually, and since the entire set is available to you folks out there that play with physical cards, I think a quick rundown of sweet new Commander additions are in order:

Brago, King Eternal

Do you like playing Blink decks? Brago sure does! Although needs to hit someone in order to do his thing, he at least has evasion to do so, and cards like Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are common sights in most decks to shore up his lack of defense and haste. When he does connect, his triggered ability can be absurdly strong. It's like Roon of the Hidden Realm for no mana investment, and any number targets instead of just one! Even better, Brago can blink noncreature permanents as well. Board wipe with Elspeth, Sun's Champion and then blink her to reset her counters? Blink a Spine of Ish Sah and to blow up another permanent? There are plenty of sweet synergies out there to explore.

Brago will make a fine general, and probably be even more potent as an addition to a Roon of the Hidden Realm deck.

Coercive Portal

Usually you want to board wipe when one person is too far ahead. In that situation, other players will agree to wipe the board. Other times nobody will be very threatening and people would prefer keeping their stuff on the table, letting you draw a card. It's essentially a colorless Phyrexian Arena that turns into an Oblivion Stone when necessary!

The only time I can see this card sucking is if you're behind everyone else and would like a board wipe, but gosh darn, your opponents want to keep all their stuff! Then, well, you still get to draw cards, which helps to get back into the game but it's not exactly what you wanted. Also, it may be that Coercive Portal paints a giant target on you for having it out there for holding the table hostage with a "gun" to all the nonland permanents. I'm hoping that won't be the case.

Either way, I like it. I'll for sure be testing this out.

Council's Judgment

Not my final judgment, but I think we have a winner. Generally speaking, when you're using targeted removal on something in Commander, it's the biggest threat on the board to everyone in play. Be it a Darksteel Forge or Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, nobody (aside from its controller) wants that card in play and will readily vote with you in removing it. So at the very worst, it's an extremely potent single target removal spell.

I'm hoping that sometimes things will get even more interesting and you can sway the table to kill two problem things. For example, let's say Darksteel Forge is on one opponent's board, and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger is controlled by a different opponent. You vote for Darksteel Forge. The Forge's owner votes for Vorinclex. The Vorinclex owner votes for Forge. The last player that owns neither will probably vote for Vorinclex, as those are two threats to him/her as well. Bam! Two threats exiled for the price of one.

Dack Fayden

This is one of the best planeswalkers in Commander, especially the best of the lot at 3cmc. +1 Careful Study is monstrous as it digs for the cards you need while also fueling graveyard strategies. -2 there's always a sweet artifact to steal in your typical 4-man Commander, and the ultimate can win games with a little bit of work. Not much more to say here. This card is fantastic and will find a home in almost all decks that can play him.

Dack's Duplicate

Phyrexian Metamorph and Rite of Replication are still the kings of Cloning. If you want a third, however, Duplicate is a very powerful choice. Having haste is a hugely underrated plus, as this format has tons of enormous fatties that can swing for a billion. Copying and immediately swinging with Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre would be backbreaking.

Deathreap Ritual

It's like Fecundity that is power-capped, but only you can benefit from it. Also comparable to Harvester of Souls, which again is more abusable but doesn't trigger from token creatures, while Deathreap Ritual does. A solid addition to any BG sacrifice-themed deck.

Grenzo, Dungeon Warden

Grenzo has a ton of potential. The mechanics Scry, Clash, and Cascade all can put stuff on the bottom of your library to always hit with Grenzo's ability. There's also Goblin Charbelcher, (Retio Lantern), (Terferi's Puzzle Box), and some other stuff to make sure that you always hit.

I can see him leading a casual deck or an ultra-cutthroat combo deck that goes for infinite mana, manipulates the library, and then spews out an infinite amount of hasted dudes on to the field for a win. Either way, he's solid.

Grenzo's Rebuttal

Everyone loses their biggest threat on the field. You come up top with a 4/4 ogre. You're also the one choosing when to cast this, so you'll probably do it when you have nothing too valuable to lose, again giving you a further edge. Looks like a sweet win to me. The only thing that bothers me is the 6 mana cost. It could've been 4 mana, honestly. But 4 mana or 6, it's still quite playable.

Magister of Worth

In the vast majority of cases, this is a Day of Judgment attached to a 4/4 flyer. That's solid, and only gets better if you have ways to bounce/blink it. But if you're the prime target on the board, your opponents can deny you a board wipe, which sucks. I would probably run Merciless Eviction over this due to its flexibility and exile effect, but if you want another value sweeper then Magister can work.

Marchesa, the Black Rose

Marchesa is an efficient commander that entices you to build around her a number of ways. Some archetypes that I've already spotted on the internet: sacrifice theme, counters theme, ETB theme (that can also go with sacrifice), swarms, or lead a straightforward aggressive beatdown deck. Making sure you always get Dethrone triggers is easy in Grixis, as you can easily lower your own health with cards like Unspeakable Symbol and Necropotence.

She's also bffs with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. When both are on the field, the infinite combo options are endless!

Marchesa's Smuggler

3 mana to give a creature haste + unblockable is probably too much of a mana sink, but it's still a very good combination to have. Smuggler may have a place in decks that revolve around hitting opponents with creatures to trigger things, like Balefire Dragon.

Muzzio, Visionary Architect

Rejoice, artifact lovers, for we have received a less broken Arcum Dagsson! Muzzio is still an incredibly potent commander that loves to take leisurely strolls through value town, but he doesn't go about it in such an obviously degenerate manner as Arcum "I can go infinite on turn 1" Dagsson. My friends, enjoy an incredibly powerful artifact commander that is more casual and will have less objects thrown at you for putting him on the table. Or feel confident adding him to other commanders, like Memnarch, Arcum, and Sharuum.

Plea for Power

This is an easier to cast Concentrate. Very solid.

Realm Seekers

The only "seeker" that caught my eye was this green one. I can easily see this one starting off as a 15+/15+, unlike the other Seekers which have far less size potential. Fertilid's big brother is a hefty mana investment and tutors instead of ramp, but the true value in this beater/tutor card is that it can fetch any land, not just basics. For decks focusing on a ton of power lands, like Maze of Ith, having a repeatable method of fetching can be a huge boon.

Giant beater + repeatable land tutor looks like a sweet combination but we'll see if it's worth the weighty mana investment.

Reign of the Pit

Pretty much Syphon Flesh, except it costs 1 more, you also sacrifice a creature, and you get a (potentially) giant flyer instead of ~3 underwhelming 2/2's. This looks like a perfect option for Black control decks, or sacrifice themed decks. I like Innocent Blood and Barter in Blood more but the giant flyer is well worth the increased cost.

Scourge of the Throne

Holy beatsticks, batman! A 5+/5+ flyer that offers additional combat phases with no further mana investment sound like a good deal to me. No protection or innate haste is a slight hindrance but can be worked around with as little as Lightning Greaves. I can see Scourge being a powerful inclusion in red decks, specifically Mayael the Anima, which has the tools to give it both haste and hexproof / indestructibility.

Selvala, Explorer Returned

Cheap, group huggy, rampy, political. Selvala is a powerful legendary in a non-threatening package. People will love her for her group card draw, but will learn to hate her for her efficient ramping and lifegain. She's an excellent choice if you want a less threatening general, but she also works as a great addition to a Trostani, Selesnya's Voice lifegain deck or another legendary candidate for Captain Sisay.

Treasonous Ogre

This guy is begging to be used for infinite mana. I'm not sure which combos will be optimal with him, maybe Platinum Angel, but he's now out there. Waiting. What is whole must soon be broken.

If you want to play nice, he's an easy shoe-in for Dethrone decks, like Marchesa. Accelerate out your spells while keeping Dethrone active.

Reprints

There are some pricey cards being reprinted in Conspiracy. Since it's not a limited print run, expect the prices of these cards to drop a significant amount, which is sweet for those of us concerned about our card budgets. For MTGO, I'd expect the cards that show up in Vintage Masters will lower the prices online as well.

That's all of my picks for this set. Let me know what you think and thanks for reading!

Doc's Commander Archive