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Cockatrice Commander Battle Box

By MULRAH

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Description

This Battle Box is designed for pickup-n-play Commander games on Cockatrice.

Battle Box Setup & Rules

Setup

  1. Download and randomize the list using a tool like https://www.browserling.com/tools/random-lines.
  2. Cut and paste portions of the randomized list into one text file for each player, such that each player has an equal number of cards (e.g., 60 cards for each of 3 players, 45 cards for each of 4 players, and so on)
  3. Add the following lands to each "deck": Boreal Shelf, Frost Marsh, Tresserhorn Sinks, Highland Weald, Arctic Flats, and one of each basic land.
  4. Each player gets one commander selected randomly from the list of Commanders below.
  5. Each player places their Commander and all lands from their deck into the Command Zone. You are ready to play!

Rules

  1. Players start with 4 cards (rather than 7).
  2. There are no mulligans.
  3. Lands can be played from the Command Zone as if they are in your hand.
  4. Players may play up to 3 lands on their first turn.
  5. The cost of a Commander cannot exceed 10 mana, including Commander Tax.

Other than that, follow all the normal rules of Commander!

For more about the Battle Box format, check out MTG Battle Box at https://www.mtgbattlebox.com/rules/.

Commander List

Prior to each game, players randomly select their commander from the list below:

Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo Avacyn, Guardian Angel Evra, Halcyon Witness Reya Dawnbringer Icingdeath, Frost Tyrant Zhuge Jin, Wu Strategist Sun Ce, Young Conquerer Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor Lorthos, the Tidemaker Chisei, Heart of Oceans Aphemia, the Cacophony Kagemaro, First to Suffer Zhang Liao, Hero of Hefei Commander Greven il-Vec Zhang He, Wei General Starke of Rath Zalto, Fire Giant Duke Homura, Human Ascendant Drakuseth, Maw of Flames Diaochan, Artful Beauty Mirri, Cat Warrior Kodama of the North Tree Multani, Maro-Sorcerer Jedit Ojanen of Efrava Thriss, Nantuko Primus Ith, High Arcanist Skeleton Ship Tymaret, the Murder King Tuknir Deathlock Lady Caleria Obzedat, Ghost Council Anya, Merciless Angel Sisters of Stone Death Adriana, Captain of the Guard Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist Treva, the Renewer Dakkon Blackblade Nicol Bolas Darigaaz Reincarnated Palladia-Mors, the Ruiner

The commanders at this power level have an impact but don't overwhelm the game like more competitive options.

If a player loses two or three games in a row, they may pick a commander from this list of more powerful options:

  1. Isperia, Supreme Judge
  2. Nymris, Oona's Trickster
  3. Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
  4. Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
  5. Saffi Eriksdotter
  6. Ravos Soultender
  7. Jori En, Ruin Diver
  8. Belbe, Corrupted Observer
  9. Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero
  10. Lonis, Cryptozooligist

Design Principles

This Battle Box continues my "Cockatrice Commander" series of decks and complements the Cockatrice Commander Cube. Taken together, these decks/sets explore the less affordable card pool that I prefer to play on Cockatrice. The Battle Box takes in cards that are a step down from what's in the cube and do not have a role in various focused decks (e.g., dragons and other expensive tribal decks). The cards are intended to be of a similar power level.

The set supports various theaters of play, resulting in tense and balanced games of Magic:

  1. Aggro shows up via infect, largely in BGu, and "go wide" effects (tokens, anthems, etc.), mostly in RGW. (Due to the presence of -1/-1 counters, I intentionally excluded anything that provides +1/+1 counters, in keeping with Wizards' own approach to set design.)
  2. Control is supported by the prevalence of mass removal and game-winning effects on planeswalkers. Since you're never drawing lands, it's tough to run out of gas, despite the lack of card draw effects. Pillow fort effects, counterspells, etc. can set you up to be very difficult to attack.
  3. Midrange arises from the mixture of the #1 and #2. Sometimes you'll be using mass removal to take out early threats and then beating the slowest deck with infect.

Minor subthemes are also present and can come together on occasion, such as wolves tribal, triggering enrage with pingers, cheating stuff into play, graveyard recursion, and political strategies.

Colorless (21)

Artifact (16)

Creature (5)

Gold (30)

Creature (10)

Planeswalker (10)

Enchantment (5)

Instant (5)

White (26)

Creature (11)

Enchantment (6)

Sorcery (3)

Planeswalker (3)

Artifact (3)

Blue (25)

Creature (13)

Enchantment (5)

Sorcery (1)

Planeswalker (3)

Instant (3)

Black (26)

Creature (14)

Instant (4)

Enchantment (3)

Planeswalker (3)

Sorcery (2)

Red (26)

Creature (12)

Enchantment (6)

Instant (2)

Sorcery (3)

Planeswalker (3)

Green (26)

Creature (17)

Planeswalker (3)

Sorcery (2)

Enchantment (3)

Instant (1)

MULRAH says... #1

Solo Playtesting

I worked my way through the whole card pool with five playtest games.

  1. This felt like classic Battle Box: long, grueling, and complex. Despite feeling like the game was long, it was over on the 11th turn, which has been on the slow end of goldfishing but more in the middle for a regular game. There were some tough but ephemeral mana sequencing choices midgame. It was nice to see different strategies emerge: one "infect" player, one "cheat" player (using As Foretold), and one "midrange" player who ended up winning despite never seeming like the imminent winner at any point earlier in the game. Removal felt rather light; nothing appeared that could take out As Foretold, and the board got clogged into gridlock in the rounds before Progenitus (the stand-in commander for all decks) showed up.
  2. After increasing the removal in the set and identifying the commanders I want to use for it, I did another playtest. Despite going more rounds, it felt like there was more ebb and flow, perhaps because of the changes I'd made: there was a lot more interaction, and each "player" had a different feel due to their commander. Akroma, Angel of Fury sure seemed strong in this environment, able to evade almost half the cards in the set. Despite being "underdogs," none of the commanders seemed like duds, and they provided some direction to each player. I identified some cards that don't make sense in this format, like Finale of Eternity. There are also several cards that retrieve creatures that went to the graveyard that turn, which seems hard to predict. One card like this provides a nice challenge, but three (at least) seems like it might be too many.
  3. This game was the most satisfying of the three so far, with lots of back-and-forth and viable paths to victory for every player. Major themes, including planeswalkers and infect, were strong in this game, and minor themes like wolves and enrage popped up too, which was a pleasant surprise. Commanders continue to be an afterthought, which I actually like, as it keeps the focus on the Battle Box itself rather than big splashy effects only one player can access. Nonetheless, the Commanders did have an impact, with Tuktuk doing significant commander damage, and Sun Ce's horsemanship being key to delivering poison counters off Glistening Oil. In this game, I started using a house rule that allows players to put three lands into play on the first turn. I didn't feel like I was missing anything and appreciated "skipping" over the fairly meaningless first two turns of the game. In fact, this sort of emulated the feel of ramp you usually get in commander games, just with lands instead of mana rocks.
  4. This game was epic! Players fell into expected theaters, with Aphemia leaping into aggro and Arcades of course taking the slow road. I was worried Aphemia would be disappointing, but there were just enough enchantments to make it feel like she was working out fine, certainly a lot better than Arcades, who came out multiple times only to get hit with mass removal on the next turn, and Starke, who was basically a vanilla 2/2. Arcades and Aphemia generally stuck to their lane, and Aphemia's success made her an early target for the combined efforts of the other two. Arcades gradually built up a strong board position and looked like the inevitable winner once Aphemia was dispatched. However, Starke's Harness Infinity gave it a sudden surge of resources, and Maelstrom Nexus provided continual value. Despite being at just 4 life, Starke pulled off a stunning come-from-behind win off an equipped Phyrexian Hydra and a Final Fortune off cascade. Very exciting!
  5. The final playtest was a bit of a letdown, as it was probably decided on the first turn. Cascade Agent pulled a Hunted Horror, and the player who got the free tokens ended up winning. They also got a No Mercy, which disabled attacks, and the enchantment removal was stuck in the third player's hand. He might have done something about it had he not been forced to discard his hand to clear the board using his commander. It was an impossible situation, and the game was over after just eight turns, which is quite fast for this format.
July 20, 2021 8:53 p.m.

MULRAH says... #2

These changes address a few things:

  1. Repetition between this set and the cube
  2. Redundancies within the Battle Box
  3. Disparate card power levels
  4. Removing ways to add +1/+1 counters

Anyway, here are the changes:

  • Starnheim Unleashed --> Entreat the Angels
  • Remand --> Cephalid Constable
  • Fatestitcher --> Faerie Artisans
  • Serpent of Yawning Depths --> Rimefeather Owl
  • Throat Slitter --> Fatal Push
  • Geralf's Messenger --> Rotting Regisaur
  • Blowfly Infestation --> Necroskitter
  • Goblin Sharpshooter --> Rampaging Ferocidon
  • Port Razer --> Fury
  • Ox of Agonas --> Moonveil Dragon
  • Chancellor of the Forge --> Cavalier of Flame
  • Polyraptor --> Stonehoof Chieftain
  • Blade of Selves --> Nim Deathmantle
  • Magister of Worth --> Ashen Rider
  • Dack's Duplicate --> Storm Fleet Sprinter
  • Maelstrom Nexus --> Scion of Draco
  • Maelstrom Archangel --> Crystalline Crawler
August 2, 2021 6:42 p.m.

MULRAH says... #3

We tried this out last night. For the most part, things worked as one might hope for a Battle Box. Mana sequencing was important and difficult at times. Few cards felt unfair, but most felt quite powerful. Even the roster of "underdog" commanders did fine without taking over the game or outshining the rest of the set.

There were some issues, however:

  1. I missed that I'd included quite a few cards that cause players to sacrifice permanents, which could be lands, which goes against the spirit of the format's balanced mana system.
  2. Teferi, Master of Time did in fact feel unfair. Even though it never got to ultimate, it would just phase out anything that attacked it (which was necessary to prevent the ultimate), and it easily stocked the graveyard in advance of a Hunting Grounds. Despite relentlessly attacking Jeremy for the entire game, Ryan and I just could not recover from this combo; it seems like the player who gets ganged up on should lose, not still win because of a single card that granted tremendous advantage. (Ganging up on one player is not a great dynamic and is something to address in the future.)
  3. I felt that infect wasn't quite as present as it should have been. It's possible it just didn't come out in the right order or at the right time, but I'm still going to make a couple very minor changes to increase its presence.

Revisions

  • Elite Spellbinder --> Lost Leonin
  • Cephalid Constable --> Amphin Mutineer
  • Teferi, Master of Time --> Jace, the Living Guildpact
  • Tidespout Tyrant --> Coastal Breach
  • Anje's Ravager --> Razor Swine
  • Silverclad Ferocidons --> Embercleave
  • Cavalier of Flame --> Molten Primordial
  • Chain of Acid --> Gleeful Sabotage
  • Eldrazi Conscription --> Ancient Stone Idol
  • Ajani Vengeant --> Huatli, Warrior Poet
August 7, 2021 3:19 p.m.

MULRAH says... #4

Since the last update, we have played this a couple more times to good effect. Updates to our Commander Cube, the creation of some new decks, and the ongoing enforcement of my "collection singleton" rule leads to a number of changes here.

  • Palace Jailer --> Solitude
  • Hallowed Spiritkeeper --> Arena Rector
  • Blazing Archon --> Godsend
  • Mystic Speculation --> Soothsaying
  • Timestream Navigator --> Spectral Adversary
  • Glen Elendra Archmage --> Attunement
  • Turnabout --> Illusionist's Gambit
  • Coastal Breach --> Crush of Tentacles
  • Kederekt Leviathan --> Mnemonic Deluge
  • Fatal Push --> Malicious Affliction
  • Cavalier of Night --> Archon of Cruelty
  • Chandra, the Firebrand --> Zariel, Archduke of Avernus
  • Pest Infestation --> Druid of Purification
  • Arachnogenesis --> Oath of Nissa
  • Primal Rage --> Ranger Class
  • Stonehoof Chieftain --> Archetype of Endurance
  • Narset Transcendent --> Dovin Baan
  • Adult Gold Dragon --> Mila, Crafty Companion // Lukka, Wayward Bonder
December 27, 2021 1 p.m.

MULRAH says... #5

The need for some changes has built up over the last few months. As usual, these changes are mostly about maintaining my collection-wide singleton standard to maximize variety, but they also address a couple problematic cards.

  • Second Sunrise --> Spirit of Resistance
  • Forbid --> Cryptic Command
  • Kederekt Parasite --> Dusk Urchins
  • Final Fortune --> Last Chance
  • Fervor --> Besmirch
  • Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh --> Chandra, Dressed to Kill
  • Embercleave --> Geode Rager
  • Ezuri's Predation --> Apex Altisaur
  • Primal Surge --> Praetor's Counsel
  • Crystalline Crawler --> Kaldra Compleat
  • Kolaghan's Command --> Pain Magnification
  • Stitch in Time --> Magma Opus
  • Harness Infinity --> Windgrace's Judgment
  • Mila, Crafty Companion --> Outlaws' Merriment
April 9, 2022 2:40 p.m.

MULRAH says... #6

Multicolor Staples

This cube strives to include popular Commander staples, and multicolor cards offer up some of the most popular removal spells in the format. I'd set these cards aside because I wanted to prioritize more interesting multicolor spells, but I'm now realizing I could really upgrade the removal here and open up the flexibility of the multicolor cards by bringing these removal spells back in.

  • Grasp of Fate --> Dovin's Veto
  • Chain of Vapor --> Drown in the Loch
  • Deadly Rollick --> Bedevil
  • Deflecting Swat --> Decimate
  • Force of Vigor --> Aura Mutation
  • Austere Command --> Anguished Unmaking
  • Flood of Tears --> Counterflux
  • Finale of Eternity --> Assassin's Trophy
  • Crackle with Power --> Boros Charm
  • Chain of Acid --> Oversimplify

Since I'm not increasing the fixing to support these multicolor additions, I am going to cut back on a cycle of the more generic/general multicolor spells. In their place, I'm returning a suite of equipment, which I'd previously cut because I thought voltron strategies were to prevalent. However, I think the scales have tipped toward the token/aristocrats themes, and a lot of RW commanders are useless without more equipment on hand. I'm also bringing back the modal land suite I recently cut for the channel lands.

  • Unsettled Mariner --> Colossus Hammer
  • Sire of Stagnation --> Helm of the Gods
  • Hidetsugu Consumes All --> Shadowspear
  • Atarka's Command --> Trailblazer's Boots
  • Mirari's Wake --> Hammer of Nazahn
  • Ashen Rider --> Emeria's Call
  • Thousand-Year Storm --> Glasspool Mimic
  • Culling Ritual --> Agadeem's Awakening
  • Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion --> Shatterskull Smashing
  • Alchemist's Refuge --> Turntimber Symbiosis
May 3, 2022 2:22 a.m.

MULRAH says... #7

(That last comment was for my cube, not this battle box. Whoops!)

May 3, 2022 2:24 a.m.

MULRAH says... #8

As usual, the tweaks have accumulated over the last few months. It seems like 3 or 4 months is the routine here...

  • Angelic Field Marshall --> Drumbellower
  • Flickering Ward --> Paladin Class
  • Spirit of Resistance --> Spear of Heliod
  • Elspeth Tirel --> Elspeth Resplendent
  • Cryptic Command --> Remand
  • Stormwing Entity --> Docent of Perfection
  • Molten Primordial --> Arcane Bombardment
  • Avatar of Slaughter --> Fiendish Duo
  • Argentum Armor --> Unlicensed Hearse
  • Conqueror's Flail --> Luxior, Giada's Gift

In addition, there are a half dozen slots where there are a couple cards that could go in, so I'll just swap those in and out on occasion.

June 13, 2022 7:27 p.m.

MULRAH says... #9

We've got about one more session before we've gone through all the commanders. It's been long enough that some of these commanders have moved out of the appropriate tier, and I've also realized some of these commanders don't work for this format. As a result, we've got some swaps:

  • Alirios, Enraptured --> Zhuge Jin, Wu Strategist
  • Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp --> Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor
  • Yargle, Glutton of Urborg --> Kagemaro, First to Suffer
  • Hythonia the Cruel --> Zhang Liao, Hero of Hefei
  • Myojin of Night's Reach --> Commander Greven il-Vec
  • Spirit of the Night --> Zhang He, Wei General
  • Tuktuk the Explorer --> Starke of Rath
  • Akroma, Angel of Fury --> Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
  • Myojin of Life's Web --> Jedit Ojanen of Efrava

I'm also just removing some commanders from the mix:

  • Darien, King of Kjeldor
  • Hisoka, Minamo Sensei
  • Cao Ren, Wei Commander
  • Verix Bladewing
  • Iwamori of the Open Fist
  • Arcades Sabboth
  • Chromium
  • Sol'kanar the Swamp King
  • Vaevictis Asmadi
  • Palladia-Mors
June 13, 2022 8:09 p.m.

MULRAH says... #10

I've got a few more changes to make, mostly to balance out the colors. Balance is not essential for a battle box, but I don't want it to be generally correct to play all your lands in one color first or for people to pick their commanders based on one color being better than others.

  • Giver of Runes --> Faithbound Judge
  • Black Sun's Zenith --> Plague Wind
  • Furystoke Giant --> Reckless Rage
  • Razor Swine --> Reckless Stormseeker
  • Warrior's Oath --> Braid of Fire
  • Besmirch --> Citadel of Pain
June 13, 2022 10:25 p.m.

MULRAH says... #11

We haven't played this much lately, but the changes have accumulated from recent sets and shifts in the cost and popularity of cards. Here's a swath of swaps that ought to freshen things up quite a bit for our next play:

  • March of Otherworldly Light --> Solitude
  • Archangel of Tithes --> Vexilus Praetor
  • Heavenly Blademaster --> Starnheim Unleashed
  • Crush of Tentacles --> Lord of Change
  • Malicious Affliction --> Saw in Half
  • Thrilling Encore --> Wake the Dead
  • Wound Reflection --> Nirkana Revenant
  • Bloodsworn Steward --> Instigator Gang
  • Rekindling Phoenix --> Avaricious Dragon
  • Moonveil Dragon --> Balor
  • Rite of the Raging Storm --> Storm King's Thunder
  • Ulvenwald Tracker --> Pir's Whim
  • Ranger Class --> Primal Rage
  • Praetor's Counsel --> Titan of Industry
  • Darksteel Reactor --> Nautiloid Ship
  • Geode Golem --> Thunderhawk Gunship
  • Retrofitter Foundry --> Coercive Portal
  • Dolmen Gate --> Weatherlight Compleated
  • The Chain Veil --> The Golden Throne
  • Nim Deathmantle --> Conqueror's Flail
  • Batterskull --> Resurrection Orb
  • Ashen Rider --> Assault Intercessor
  • Pain Magnification --> The Ruinous Powers
  • Mage Slayer --> Overabundance
  • Chandra, Dressed to Kill --> Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast
December 10, 2022 11:06 p.m.

MULRAH says... #12

I'm officially retiring this project. It played a role for a while, but we're no longer doing regular Commander sessions. Even when we were, nobody suggested this over the cube, so it does not make sense to maintain this project anymore.

July 6, 2023 4:05 p.m.

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Cards 180
Date added 3 years
Last updated 2 years

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