The Best Commander Cards From... Legions
Welcome back to The Best Commander Cards From..., a series looking at the most powerful Commander cards from across Magic: The Gathering's rich thirty-year-long history. Today's focus is Legions, the twenty-eighth expansion set, which was released in February of 2003 and is the second set in the Onslaught block.
Legions Lore
As you can imagine, Legions picks up where Onslaught left off. This set gets a bit weird, and even weirder if you read the book. In fact, most of the key events in this story aren't even featured on cards, so if you didn't read that book, you're going to miss a lot of details.
What kind of details? Well, Kamahl spends a decent portion of the story just meditating while the actual plot is happening. Don't worry, though: he shows up at the end and accidentally creates a literal goddess by killing three people, one of whom was literally falling from the sky, in a single swing. Most of the plot, however, actually hinges around the ongoing war between Akroma and Phage.
Legions Mechanics
Morph, amplify, provoke, and even double strike found their way in, but the biggest thing you'll notice about this set is that creatures are the only card type featured in it! I think this was a terrible choice for a number of reasons, but this early in the Magic history I can appreciate the desire to experiment. With all that in mind, let's get into the cards themselves.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
In spite of the high cost, protection from red and black are still fantastic abilities on a huge creature. The keyword soup Akroma has makes her perfect for Odric, Lunarch Marshal and Kathril, Aspect Warper. Other commanders, like Kaalia of the Vast and Lyra Dawnbringer, simply like that she's a large Angel.
Celestial Gatekeeper
Admittedly, Legions is a set where kindred themes are quite common, and we're gonna have to highlight some kindred payoffs. Celestial Gatekeeper, while it does have a built-in stop gap to prevent looping, is still quite strong in Cleric decks. Also, I guess it's also good for Birds.
Essence Sliver
Oh, did I forget to mention that Slivers are in this set? They sure are! This psuedo-lifelink effect is an ability that you might undervalue until you're at 10 life facing down a card like Purphoros, God of the Forge. Essence Sliver only has one true rival when it comes to its ability, Syphon Sliver, and that wouldn't see print until Magic 2014!
Glowrider
You can play Glowrider alongside other stax pieces, like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Vryn Wingmare, or just play it in any Cleric deck. As a combo player, seeing a card like this, even one that appears clunky at three mana, takes the wind right out of my sails. Trust me, this ability is strong.
Plated Sliver
The highlight of Plated Sliver isn't the +0/+1, although that's a really neat bonus. The reason this card is playable is because it's a one-mana Sliver. At some point, once you've assembled a few of the key Slivers (particularly those that tap for mana), you really just want a critical mass of Slivers of any kind, and this is about as cheap as they get.
Ward Sliver
Suddenly getting protection from an entire color usually means you'll be able to take out at least one player at many tables, and that makes the five-mana pill that is Ward Sliver a bit easier to swallow. Keep in mind, however, that your "target Sliver" abilities can get messed up by protection! Your Magma Sliver, for instance, can't target your Slivers if you choose red!
Windborn Muse
The Muse cycle has some real heavy hitters, and Windborn Muse is one of the better ones. I really like the upside that flying brings to a creature like this, and almost any go-wide deck will see this as a huge roadblock. You can, of course, combine it with other tax effects, like Ghostly Prison, to bolster your defenses even further.
Riptide Mangler
In a lot of games, I expect that Riptide Mangler is just gonna sit there and do nothing for a while. Maybe if you have some unused mana it can threaten an attack or two, but often it won't do too much besides ward off aggression. Sometimes, though, it'll be attacking with the force of a freight train because someone played a gigantic beater, and that's pretty awesome.
Shifting Sliver
Much like Ward Sliver, Shifting Sliver usually lets you get in at least one free attack. Given how fast Slivers usually snowball, this can be enough to completely take out a player sometimes. Casual players, take some free advice: don't be afraid to swing your creatures in creature decks.
Synapse Sliver
It's feeling like a bit of a Sliver showcase, and that's because Slivers are one of the most popular creature types in the game, and because this set is full of them. Five mana is a pretty high cost, but considering how easy it is to give your Slivers evasion, Synapse Sliver is usually worth the investment.
Willbender
Morph is the key here, as you're not getting the best deal out of a five-mana Redirect without the morph creature having some extra utility. My favorites are Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer and Missy, which are arguably the premier morph-themed commanders at the moment.
Bane of the Living
Much like Willbender, Bane of the Living is largely relegated to decks centered around morph. Having a mystery creature suddenly become an all-but-uncounterable board wipe isn't always going to be useful, but when it is, it'll be great!
Crypt Sliver
Two mana is the butter zone when it comes to Slivers. Crypt Sliver is nice and cheap, but it's still doing what Slivers do. In this case, it makes sure that your key Slivers survive combat and evade many removal spells.
Scion of Darkness
Of note, Scion of Darkness is not a Demon, nor does it have flying, which has kept it from being featured alongside popular commanders, like Kaalia of the Vast. In spite of this, I think that the built-in discard-enabler and wonderful on-hit ability make it a great asset in decks looking to cast Reanimate.
Dark Supplicant
You can only really play Dark Supplicant in decks featuring a ton of clerics. The payoff is more consistent access to the aforementioned Scion of Darkness, and that seems like a sweet package to me.
Graveborn Muse
On its own, Graveborn Muse is a fragile and expensive Phyrexian Arena. Of course, if you have even one extra Zombie laying around, you've got a much better proposition. If your deck is built around Zombies, you can probably see the potential for huge draw at a relatively cheap cost.
Phage the Untouchable
There's a lot of cheeky ways to sneak this into play under an opponent's control or safely play it to hit opponents, but I wouldn't recommend putting Phage the Untouchable in your command zone. Cards like Fractured Identity and Lazav, Wearer of Faces remain some of the most popular ways to make Phage work.
Gempalm Incinerator
If you're playing a lot of Goblins, Gempalm Incinerator may as we be a creature removal spell that can't be countered and draws you an extra card. That's a whole lot of bonus for a pretty low up-front cost, and I'd consider this a staple of Goblin kindred decks.
Hunter Sliver
Provoke is a pretty strong mechanic, and giving that to all your Slivers can spell doom for anyone with a valuable utility creature in play. Like a lot of the Slivers in this set, you will need power and toughness boosts to get the most out of Hunter Sliver.
Magma Sliver
If you think the ability of Magma Sliver seems weak, you might not be thinking about how it interacts with other abilities. With only five total Slivers in play, Magma Sliver allows for an extra 25 damage as long as your Slivers have vigilance. First strike also synergizes quite well, even if you only have a few extra Slivers laying around.
Brood Sliver
Having your Slivers make more Slivers is pretty cool, and Brood Sliver does just that. It isn't uncommon for this Sliver to create a must-answer situation the turn it enters the battlefield, but like all Slivers, it can be prone to board wipes.
Caller of the Claw
I've always felt like Caller of the Claw is just on the fringes of playability. Getting a huge pile of tokens is a great consolation prize for having your board wiped, but I'd rather just keep my stuff. That said, decks looking to sacrifice their creatures for value can make great use of it.
Quick Sliver
Flash grants an extra layer of lethality and surprise to your Sliver decks. Granting your team double strike, +1/+1, or regeneration can turn the tides of a game in an instant, and Quick Sliver helps enable those plays.
Seedborn Muse
The most widely played of the Muse cycle, Seedborn Muse is also the most popular card from Legions. Any commander with a built-in mana sink can make fantastic use of all the excess mana that Seedborn Muse can grant you, to say nothing of casting spells.
Timberwatch Elf
Elves are like Slivers in that you'll usually want a ton of them on the battlefield. Timberwatch Elf in particular is somewhat similar to Magma Sliver, boosting toughness instead of granting the ability to all of your Elves.
Wirewood Channeler
Beyond making any color of mana, which is a decent upside, this basically functions as a bit of redundancy for other Elves, like Elvish Archdruid, Priest of Titania, and Marwyn, the Nurturer. Redundancy is the key when it comes to most kindred strategies, and Wirewood Channeler still gets a nod in spite of its relatively meek stats.
Wirewood Hivemaster
While many kindred decks only care about getting a critical mass of one type of creature, you might like Wirewood Hivemaster if your payoffs include cards like Craterhoof Behemoth or Finale of Devastation. Don't underestimate the value of random tokens!
That's All, Folks!
Legions has a bad reputation for being a very peculiar set from a design perspective, and it's easy to see why. A creature-only set is a pretty big gamble. As a spellslinger, this set is pretty close to a nightmare for me to sift through, but there's also quite a bit to love, especially if you like Slivers! At any rate, I've been Luka Sharaska, and I hope you'll join me next time when I cover Scourge.
