The Best Commander Cards From... Mercadian Masques
Welcome back to The Best Commander Cards From..., a series focusing on the most powerful EDH cards from across Magic: The Gathering's rich thirty-year-long history. Today's focus is Mercadian Masques, the eighteenth expansion set, which was released in October of 1999, and is the first set in the Masques block.
Reserved List No More
Currently, Mercadian Masques is the first expansion set in which zero cards are on the Reserved List. That's a pretty big deal, and although I have my own gripes with the current iteration of the Reserved List, I can feature any cards from this or future sets without worrying that they'll never be affordable to the average player. In fact, dozens of cards that were originally from Masques have actually been reprinted in Commander products over the years.
The Themes of Mercadian Masques
Mechanically, this is one of my favorite sets of all time. Alternate casting costs, Mercenaries, Rebels, various Spellshapers, and my all-time favorite cycle of lands are featured here, and you're in for a treat if you've never explored Mercadian Masques on your own. I've gassed this set up enough, though, so let's get into the cards!
High Market
I usually start these lists with the most popular or powerful card from the set I'm covering. When it comes to the most powerful, I usually use my own judgment. Popularity is simple, as tons of data is available on EDHREC. This brings us to High Market.
High Market was reprinted in multiple precons and Double Masters, which makes me feel like its status as the most popular card from Masques might be a bit unfair. If you really need a sacrifice outlet, this will technically do the job, but it reeks of desperation to me, especially when compared to better outlets, like Phyrexian Altar.
Snuff Out
Competing with only a few other cards within this set when it comes to power level, Snuff Out is an ostensibly free removal spell if you're willing to jump through some simple hoops. I can't remember the last time I've played at an exclusively black table, but considering Doom Blade is somehow equally as popular, it hardly matters. At the end of the day, it's hard to beat free.
Conspiracy
You might know Conspiracy if you're a fan of Arcane Adaptation. As time goes on, we can only expect kindred strategies to get more support, so you might consider warming up to the increased mana cost if it means you've got an extra copy of this effect somewhere in your deck. Just watch out for Plague Engineer!
Tectonic Break
Mass land destruction that's scalable is scary indeed. Like any MLD, breaking the parity with mana rocks and creature-based ramp is the key to victory. Just be warned that blowing up lands is a great way to make some enemies at certain tables. On the upside, though, they won't have lands, so what can they even do about it?
Land Grant
The problem with Land Grant is not its power level, as it's an undeniably strong effect if you're using the alternate casting cost. Rather, it's often disadvantageous to reveal your hand. Just as well, casual decks are often likely to have more lands than hyper-competitive decks, which means you're less likely to have hands where you can even cast this for free, much less keep hands where you can operate on only one land.
The Rishadan Pirate Cycle
Consisting of Rishadan Cutpurse, Rishadan Footpad, and Rishadan Brigand, this cycle is a cheeky way to punish players that are being a bit too mana-efficient for their own good. As for me, I particularly enjoy cloning and reanimating these little beasties for maximum punishment. It may earn a little bit of salt, but I find it's more palatable than Rhystic Study.
Food Chain
Another one of the heaviest hitters in Masques, Food Chain is one of the original ubiquitous Commander combo pieces. Made famous alongside Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, these days you'll find it looping value engines, like Etali, Primal Conqueror and Titania, Protector of Argoth, or cEDH commanders, like Atraxa, Grand Unifier. In the absolute worst case, it's quite similar to Phyrexian Altar, which is a pretty great card.
Bog Witch
Madness cards are the first thing that come to mind when I look at Bog Witch, but almost any deck with a graveyard focus can probably use a repeatable Dark Ritual. While writing this, I even came across Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer, which pretty much turns Bog Witch into a hyper-efficient mana generator.
Bribery
You'll know which opponent to hit with Bribery. A mere five mana to get the biggest, baddest creature at the table is a tempting offer. Of course, if you target the wrong opponent you might end up with a rather mediocre consolation prize, but most decks will have something worth stealing.
The Depletion Lands
Peat Bog, Hickory Woodlot, Remote Farm, and Sandstone Needle complete this cycle. Unless you're adding counters, you'll only get two uses out of these, but that's all some decks need. In particular, you should consider these lands if your commander is relatively cheap but very important.
Squee, Goblin Nabob
Within the set, Squee, Goblin Nabob is a fantastic way to get extra uses out of your Spellshapers. In Commander, however, there's a surprising number of commanders that make great use of a card that you can discard multiple times. Chainer, Nightmare Adept and the infamous Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar are just two commanders that love to have Squee around.
Black Market
Almost any commander that deals death in large doses can make use of Black Market, particularly Massacre Girl and Horobi, Death's Wail, among others. An average game of Commander will see plenty of counters end up on this thing, and I'm sure you'll find creative ways to use all that mana.
Misdirection
Deflecting Swat this is not, but it's still a pretty strong card. Free is usually a bargain, and if you can't afford to let an important combo piece get destroyed or countered, this can often do the job. Just don't forget that Misdirection only targets spells and requires a blue card.
Ancestral Mask
Before Wilds of Eldraine introduced a ton of cheap and repeatable ways to put enchantments onto the battlefield, you'd often have to spend whole cards on each and every one of them. While I'm not certain that role tokens will come back anytime soon, Ancestral Mask has more tools than ever, and green Voltron decks couldn't be happier.
Undertaker
Tortured Existence may be a bit easier to activate multiple times per turn, but Undertaker can discard any card rather than just creatures. The result is a reliable engine for getting back your best creatures. Sometimes that's going to be a Sakura-Tribe Elder, and other times it's going to be Dockside Extortionist.
Cowardice
On one hand, Cowardice makes it difficult to permanently deal with certain threats that can be replayed at low cost. On the other hand, most Voltron strategies have no choice but to deal with Cowardice before doing almost anything. Add in a way to repeatedly target opposing creatures and you've got yourself a recipe for chaos.
Embargo
While the upkeep cost might not seem like much, the real penalty will be all the creatures turning in your direction while Embargo is on board. Of course, most of them will only get to swing once. If you're feeling especially mischievous, you can play cards like Blind Obedience to ensure total domination.
Coastal Piracy
Reconnaissance Mission has cycling, and Coastal Piracy doesn't. That's the only difference between the two cards, so if you're a fan of the new one, consider giving the old one a try. Bonus points if you're actually playing Pirates.
Crossbow Infantry
Combining Crossbow Infantry with a deathtouch effect lets you mow down (or at least hold back) pesky attackers and blockers in creature-heavy decks that usually can't run boardwipes. Without deathtouch, this is still a pretty respectable ability against quite a few relevant creatures in the format.
Haunted Crossroads
No surprise here, manipulating the top card of your library is powerful. Whether you're finding combos with Bolas's Citadel, ensuring you'll win a clash with Marvo, Deep Operative, or just rebuying a great creature, Haunted Crossroads has you covered.
That's all I've got for you today. There's a lot of hidden gems in this set, and I only covered some of the highlight reel. For each modern-day staple, there's at least two cards I would have expected to see print in a Commander precon by now. What's your favorite Mercadian Masques card? Let me know in the comments. As always, I've been Luka "Robot" Sharaska, and I hope you'll come back next time when we cover Nemesis.
