Now that all of Wilds of Eldraine is out for players to explore, how about we take a look at some of the more interesting legendary creatures you can find from the set. Wilds of Eldraine comes with a few cycles of legendary creatures, as well as two powerful depowered twins.
One of the more exciting things for players in Eldraine is the return of powerful creature-type specific commanders, with Faeries being particularly well supported in the set.
Obyra, Dreaming Duelist
A fast and deadly uncommon legendary creature, Obyra, Dreaming Duelist is a powerful choice if you want to take advantage of all the Faeries flying around. With Obyra as your commander, each opponent loses one life when you have another Faerie enter the battlefield under your control. Obyra doesn’t care if it is a token or even a noncreature Faerie card, they’re still making tokens.
At just two mana and with flash, Obyra can either come down super early in the match, casting it right before your third turn so you can start draining your opponents by flooding the board will all sorts of Faeries.
Sharae of Numbing Depths
Another uncommon legendary creature, Sharae of Numbing Depths is a rather unique white/blue commander which could do very well if built around. When Sharae enters the battlefield, she taps a creature an opponent controls and then slaps a stun counter on it. Then, any time you tap down one or more untapped creatures that an opponent controls, you get to draw a card, but that only happens once each turn.
In a Blink-shell or a hard control list with plenty of Icy Manipulator effects, you can keep the board stunned while you build your defenses and counter anything else your opponents try to play.
Yenna, Redtooth Regent
This green/white enchantment-based Commander encourages players to build a different type of Enchantress deck. Yenna has the ability to copy an enchantment that doesn’t share a name with another enchantment you control. If the enchantment was an Aura, you get to untap Yenna and scry 2 but you can only activate this ability at sorcery speed, making it a little lower power.
Yenna lets you set up some potentially big plays, copying enchantments like Enchantress’s Presence to draw double the cards, or even copying game-warping enchantments like Overwhelming Splendor. If you go the Voltron route with Yenna, you get extra copies of cards like Ethereal Armor to make Yenna massive, and then use a Spirit Mantle or two to start knocking players out of the game.
Agatha of the Vile Cauldron
The first of three mythic Warlocks in the set, Agatha of the Vile Cauldron has tons of potential to be a brutal commander if built right. Agatha reduces the cost of activated abilities by X generic mana, with X being based on Agatha’s power.
She starts at just a 1/1, which doesn’t do much for reducing those costs. But, if you combine her with cards that distribute +1/+1 counters like Halana and Alena, Partners or Guardian Augmenter to give her +2/+2 and hexproof, you can start activating abilities for free. There are some goofy cards that become incredibly powerful with a strong enough Agatha, with Walking Ballista being an effective combo piece.
Hylda of the Icy Crown
Much like the evolved form of Sharae, Hylda of the Icy Crown is a legendary creature that cares about tapping down your opponents creatures, but takes the effect one step further. Any time you tap down an untapped creature an opponent controls, you can pay one mana to either make a 4/4 token, put a +1/+1 counter on all your creatures, or scry 2 and then draw a card.
While Hylda requires a little more mana than to get going, there are some goofy combos you can use to tap down everything your opponents control. By using Opposition with Ashnod’s Altar, you can keep making tokens with Hylda, tap that token to tap an opponent’s creature, sac the toke to create two mana, and then repeat until everything is tapped down and no one can touch you.
Eriette of the Charmed Apple
Your opponents will never eat apples again after playing a few rounds with Eriette of the Charmed Apple. Eriette makes it so each creature that is enchanted by an Aura you control can’t attack you. Then, at the end of your turn, all opponents lose life and you gain life equal to the number of Auras you control.
The neat thing with Eriette is you get to play Auras in a way that they weren’t originally intended. You can toss an Angelic Gift on your opponent’s biggest creature, suddenly making it that much more of a threat to your opponents and taking the heat off of you for a bit. The down side is that the deck will be particularly susceptible to a board wipe, with all your enchantments going away once the creatures die. Cards like Retether and Brilliant Restoration can help recover and bring back all your enchantments and auras to play.
Kellan, the Fae-Blooded
One of just two legendary creatures with Adventure, Kellan, the Fae-Blooded provides a unique challenge to your deckbuilding skills and your ability to track your commander tax. The adventure side of Kellan is Birthright Boon, which lets you tutor up an aura or equipment and put it in your hand for just two mana. Since the spell exiles itself upon resolution, you technically can put it back in the Command Zone, but if you do, it will tick up the commander tax.
Kellan then gives your other creatures +1/+0 for each aura and equipment attached to him, encouraging you to go wide with plenty of tokens while loading up Kellan with every card you can. If Kellan were to be destroyed, and you want to cast Birthright Boon again, it’ll cost you extra mana based on your commander tax value.
Will, Scion of Peace
Some of the most fun you can have in Magic is gaining life and casting spells and with Will, Scion of Peace, you can put all that life to good use. Will can be tapped to make your white or blue spells cost X mana to cast, with X being equal to the amount of life you’ve gained this turn. You can only do this at sorcery speed but that’s still plenty of time to cast some major spells.
Imagine being able to cast a Sphinx’s Revelation to draw a bunch of cards for just three mana, or even dropping an Approach of the Second Sun for just one white mana. You’ll want to bring some cards that help modify your life gain like Rhox Faithmender and Alhammarret’s Archive, both of which double the amount of life you would gain.
Rowan, Scion of War
The other of the twins, Rowan, Scion of War, is the inverse of her brother, making your red and black spells cost X less to cast, with X being the amount of life you’ve lost this turn. You’re playing a deadly game with Rowan out. You need to make sure you’re balancing the amount of life you’re paying for spells with the amount of damage you could potentially be taking between rounds.
There are some absolutely wild cards that can make use of this ability, like Exsanguinate to help you regain some of that lost life, or Torment of Hailfire to make sure there’s no way for your opponents can recover.
Talion, the Kindly Lord
An absolutely fascinating legendary creature, Talion, the Kindly Lord lets you pick a number when it comes into play, anywhere between 1 and 10. If an opponent were to cast a spell with mana value, power, or toughness equal to the chose number, they lose two life and you draw a card.
Generally speaking, two is the best pick for Talion, letting you hit the widest range for spells and creatures. But, if you feel like your opponent is doing something different you can pick whatever value you think is best. Picking other numbers might help Talion stick around a little longer too, since your opponents might not view them as much of a threat.
Ryan Hay (he/him) has been writing about Magic: The Gathering and video games for years, and loves absolutely terrible games. Send him your bad game takes over on Twitter where he won’t stop talking about Lord of the Rings.