Spoiler season is a year-round event at this point, and with more than one-thousand new cards being printed every year, it’s easy to miss something powerful in the flood of new cards. Everyone does it now and again. I’m no exception, but I also get a lot of things right. Today we’re covering the things I missed, and the things I nailed perfectly, from Wilds of Eldraine and WoE Commander. Welcome back to the Commander Corner.
In my review of Wilds of Eldraine I both praised and critiqued cards from among both the standard and Commander sets, and for the most part I was correct in my assessments. I know this thanks to data from EDHREC, which also showed me just how many cards from the set I was wrong about. While perhaps the popularity of certain cards will change over time and I’ll be proven correct, I humbly eat crow with regard to the following game pieces.
Malleable Impostor
For all that I got right about Malleable Impostor, I vastly underestimated the popularity of faerie typal decks, as this is one of the most popular cards from Wilds of Eldraine Commander. Somehow, I forgot that creature types matter in a Commander set themed around creature types mattering.
Night of the Sweets’ Revenge
Evidently we have reached a critical mass of food generators, making Night of the Sweets’ Revenge a cool build-around for a number of decks out there. Truthfully, I glanced over this card. Although it looked like bad draft chaff at the time, this has crept up quite high in popularity.
Songbirds’ Blessing
In my set review, I criticized this card for being random and win-more in aura-based enchantress decks. I feel silly in hindsight, as that’s exactly what most Voltron-style enchantress decks want to do. It may not work the way I want it to with Eldrazi Conscription, but it’s still firmly in the upper echelons of the set.
Agatha’s Soul Cauldron
I completely missed this card in my set review, and even now I’ve never seen this card really take off in the way many folks have said it does. Time will tell if this is a hit or a myth, but for better or worse, even if I don’t understand why, it’s objectively one of the most popular cards from WoE.
Court of Garenbrig
I didn’t miss this card, I actually misread it instead. I thought that you needed ways to get +1/+1 counters for this to do much of anything if you’re the monarch, but it enables itself whether you’re the monarch or not. There’s a ton of popular commanders that really like +1/+1 counters, and being able to cast this routinely on turn two probably goes a long way.
Virtue of Strength
I felt that Virtue of Strength was a significant downgrade from Nyxbloom Ancient, but this somehow ended up being the second-most popular card from the Virtue cycle, owing much of its popularity to Omnath, Locus of Mana, Vorinclex, and Gorion, Wise Mentor.
Virtue of Persistence
I still think Virtue of Persistence is a great card, but it’s somehow the least popular among the Virtue cycle. I praised this above the others, and so I must also admit defeat when it doesn’t live up to that praise.
Ox Drover
Possibly my worst call, Ox Drover missed out on being the least popular card from the WoE Commander decks by just one card, at the time I wrote this article. I still think it’s fun and cool, and it’s already in one of my decks, but it sadly underperformed in the rankings.
Now I’ll go over some of the called shots, including the greatest hits that I figured out ahead of time. With every set I try to make this list a little bit bigger. This time around, I’m pretty happy with how many cards I figured out right from the start.
Archmage of Echoes
Admittedly this was the easiest card to spot from a mile away. It does too much in too many situations to not be a standout from the set. Faeries and wizards are pretty well-supported types, so I’m sure this will only get better over time.
Stroke of Midnight
Although I didn’t name this in my set review, I did recognize it as a pretty obvious staple of the format in the making. I thought everyone recognized this, and I even alluded to it in my precon upgrade guide for Ellivere of the Wild Court. If I’m the judge, I say it counts.
Misleading Signpost
I wasn’t completely sure about Misleading Signpost, as I don’t think the power level is exceptionally high, but I do think this card does enough to be fun in most games, and evidently the community at large seems to agree.
Virtue of Knowledge
The most popular of the Virtue cycle, Virtue of Knowledge has seen huge success in decks that already wanted cards like Panharmonicon, including Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Yarok, the Desecrated.
Throne of Eldraine
Hardly the most speculative pick, Throne of Eldraine is pulling most of its numbers in mono-red and mono-white decks. The price tag is still relatively high, and it seems to be trending slightly higher as of late, which might be an indication of how popular this is beyond what online data can show.
Charming Scoundrel
No, this card doesn’t even break top-50 in popularity. No, I don’t care. I refuse to concede on this one. It’s almost strictly better than Wily Goblin and I firmly believe anyone running the goblin will soon replace it with this.
Court of Vantress
Excluding some of the prominent faerie cards sprinkled through WoE Commander, Court of Vantress is one of the most popular cards from the new decks. I think this has a lot of room to rise, and the price is certainly low enough to buy in without feeling bad.
That’s All, Folks
I’ve talked at length about the cards I missed and the cards I nailed perfectly, but what about you? If I missed something you love or praised something you think sucks, let me know! For now, I’ve been Luka “Robot” Sharaska, and this has been the Commander Corner.
Luka V. Sharaska (they/them) earned the nickname “Robot” by having a monotone voice, a talent for calculating odds, and a perfect poker face. Robot has been playing Magic for more than a decade, starting during the days of New Phyrexia in 2011.