The Best Commander Cards From... Apocalypse
Welcome back to The Best Commander Cards From..., a series focusing on the most powerful Commander cards from across Magic: The Gathering's rich thirty-year-long history. Today's focus is Apocalypse, the twenty-third expansion set, which was released in June of 2001, and is the final set in the Invasion block.
Apocalypse Lore
A lot of things happen in Apocalypse, which caps off the entire Weatherlight Saga. Urza, despite being decapitated, is still alive, but doesn't survive the set. Karn becomes a planeswalker. Yawgmoth gets blasted to oblivion by the Legacy Weapon. Somebody should write a book about this stuff. (Author's note: Someone did! It's fittingly called Apocalypse, and it's part of a series that chronicles the entire Weatherlight Saga. Although I have not and will not read it, you can get a digital copy pretty cheap!)
Apocalypse Mechanics
If you're a fan of multicolor and kicker, you'll love this set. Everything that the rest of the block built up is still here but expanded upon in ways that make me miss the three-set block structures of old. Of note, Apocalypse has an enemy-color focus, which you'll see more clearly as we get into the cards themselves. Speaking of which, let's just start right now.
The Enemy Color Pain-Lands
With the ally-colored pain lands getting printed in Ice Age, it was probably only a matter of time before the enemy-color half of the cycle found its way to print as well. I'm sure if it didn't happen in Apocalypse, it would have still happened elsewhere. I'm not gonna hold that against Apocalypse, though. In fact, I consider these lands the best contribution to the Commander format that this set has to offer. Mana is important, folks.
Coalition Flag
You should probably put this on an indestructible creature, like Arwen, Mortal Queen or Brash Taunter. Barring indestructible creatures, a hefty ward cost is just as good. Keep in mind that this underplayed Aura isn't a perfect counter to removal, as board wipes and exile effects are still plentiful.
Enlistment Officer
Soldiers are not the most heavily supported creature type in Commander just yet, at least compared to other creature types that are constantly getting new toys. Even so, we already have a couple of commanders that can make great use of this, including Myrel, Shield of Argive and Harbin, Vanguard Aviator.
Shield of Duty and Reason
While blue and green aren't the premier colors for creature removal, getting the protection half of a Sword of Body and Mind is tempting when it's only a one-mana investment. Getting past random chump blockers is great for any deck looking to suit up a big creature, and getting around cards like Song of the Dryads or Oko, Thief of Crowns is always nice.
Standard Bearer
Much like Coalition Flag, Standard Bearer has a lot going for it. Sure, it can be brought back with Sun Titan and fetched up with Recruiter of the Guard; more importantly, however, it's a great way to disrupt cards like Polymorph and Saw in Half, Splinter Twin, any powerful Auras that your opponents might want to play, and of course, almost any kind of single-target removal.
Tidal Courier
The blue Enlistment Officer, Tidal Courier will excel in any deck with a critical mass of Merfolk. The body is meek, but with how many lords this creature type can crank out, any extra creature has the potential to be massive. It's hardly a staple, but worth considering for those fish fans among us.
The Whirlpool Cycle
Almost any deck looking to cycle through their deck can make use of these creatures in some way. Draw-doublers in particular, like Teferi's Ageless Insight, go wild. You can also run the latter two of these in everyone's favorite draw punisher, Nekusar, the Mindrazer.
Phyrexian Arena
Keen readers will notice that, so far, we've gone in WUBRG order. Phyrexian Arena is the only mono-black card I'm featuring today, which is itself slowly becoming outclassed by other draw engines across the color pie. Cards like Dead Ringers or Urborg Uprising have long since been pushed out of the format, and the meager stats of cards like Phyrexian Rager or Phyrexian Gargantua just aren't measuring up very well these days. With that, we move to mono-red.
Goblin Ringleader
Anywhere Goblins can be found, Goblin Ringleader can usually be found as well, including Modern and Legacy at times. Much like mono-black, mono-red doesn't have much else to offer. Smash gets an honorable mention, but it's just one mana too expensive for my tastes, especially when an overloaded Vandalblast isn't much tougher to cast. Now then, let's move into multicolor.
Orim's Thunder
The kicker cost makes this spell multicolor for the purposes of Commander color identity, and Orim's Thunder has been printed several times in Commander decks. There's all kinds of powerful artifacts and enchantments floating around these days, and sniping a creature is a nice consolation prize to compensate for the inherent card disadvantage of single-target removal.
Life // Death
If you're willing to pay a bit of life (pun intended), the Death side of Life // Death is an extra copy of Reanimate for any deck that also features green. These days, I mostly see Death played in various iterations of Cube, but don't sleep on Life! That's another set of bodies to fuel sacrifice effects or cards like Shamanic Revelation.
Wild Research
I've not seen too many cards like Wild Research. To me, it reads more like an artifact, and discarding at random isn't something we see too often. The total cost to get your first card is pretty expensive, but the potential, especially if you don't mind cards hitting your graveyard, is quite high.
(Some of) The Sanctuary Cycle
Sure, you can play Necra Sanctuary, Ana Sanctuary, and Dega Sanctuary, but Ceta Sanctuary and Raka Sanctuary are the only two that seem worth to me. I'd love to see this cycle powered up and redesigned for a new Commander product, but for the time being, getting a free Lightning Bolt and/or Catalog on your upkeep is worth the trouble.
Death Grasp
When it comes to old school ramp payoffs, Death Grasp is a pretty good one. If you're at a casual table where the games go long and you're routinely hitting double digit mana, a Death Grasp to the dome for 20 can take a lot of players right out of the game. The rate is much worse than a Torment of Hailfire, but that card sets the bar pretty high.
Fervent Charge
Prior to Magic: The Gathering Fallout, Fervent Charge hadn't ever seen a reprint. As you might expect, you'll want an army of creature tokens to get the best bang for your buck. Token strategies aren't uncommon in Commander, but like a lot of Apocalypse multicolor payoffs, the color requirements are pretty strict.
Guided Passage
For only three mana, you're guaranteed a land and two spells. While they'll be the worst in your deck, or at least the worst cards your opponent can identify, that's still a fantastic deal. Remember, you built the deck, so don't blame me if you're consistently seeing awful results with Guided Passage.
Pernicious Deed
Fans of Cube might recognize Pernicious Deed as a classic scalable board wipe, but the card has legs in Commander as well. Muldrotha, the Gravetide in particular can return the Pernicious Deed for another bite at the apple, which can be a real hassle for some decks.
Powerstone Minefield
The biggest obstacle for anyone looking to play Powerstone Minefield is its color identity. The ability is great, but a lot of decks that include red and white are packed with creatures that wouldn't like to see this on the battlefield. If you can find the right deck, I'm sure it'll do some good work.
Soul Link
If you put Soul Link on an opposing creature, you'll be the one gaining the life. I can only imagine putting this on something like a Slicer, Hired Muscle, but any sufficiently large or goaded creature will do just fine. You can put it on your own creature as well, but I prefer the other mode.
Vindicate
The gold standard for truly unrestricted removal, Vindicate has been blowing up everything from lands to planeswalkers for years now. Some say it's outclassed by instant-speed options, like Anguished Unmaking, but I don't think so. Glacial Chasm enjoyers, beware my wrath.
That's all I have for you today. I dug pretty deep here, and although there's a few staples, a lot what I've featured is more narrow than I'd like. A lot of that has to do with the multicolor costs, but some of it has to do with how powerful cards are in the modern day.
Did I miss something you love? Let me know in the comments. I've been Luka V. Sharaska, and I hope you'll join me next time when we start the next block... Odyssey.
