Surprising popularity?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Dec. 27, 2021, 6:56 p.m. by RNR_Gaming
So, when it comes to commander it comes as almost no surprise when certain commanders become popular - tribal commanders like Chatterfang, Squirrel General and Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver were destined to be popular. On the other hand there's commanders like Prosper, Tome-Bound who have a unique design space but are fairly weak by comparison and even though it was a face card in the dnd set its' placing on edhrec still baffles me.
What commanders surprised you this year in terms of popularity?
RNR_Gaming says... #3
TypicalTimmy - I thought he'd be popular but didn't think he'd be as powerful or consistent as he is.
December 27, 2021 7:29 p.m.
I guess I'm surprised to see Zaxara, the Exemplary so high on the rankings. Nothing against the card, I like it in general and hydras always seemed cool, but to have more decks than Najeela, Morophon, Winota, ect was very surprising to see.
On the flip side, Kenrith, the Returned King seems like such a designed to be popular commander. I mean, the fact that King Arthur is one of the best reanimator commanders is...odd? I remember watching BBCs Merlin and there was very little raising of the dead. Though I guess it would be hard to give a character the activated ability of relationship drama : )
December 27, 2021 8:23 p.m.
RNR_Gaming says... #5
I think Zaxara, the Exemplary's popularity comes from lack of hydra commanders among several other things; without counting morphon there are only 4. Also, it has a lot of colors and synergizes with x spells and is part of a 2 card combo.
Oh and Kenny just does it all. Swiss army knife commander - felt super pushed but that entire set had so many slam dunks power wise and theme wise.
December 27, 2021 8:37 p.m.
DrukenReaps says... #7
I don't think Prosper, Tome-Bound surprised me. I wouldn't consider him to be all that powerful, even playing him he is just alright. The thing is he offers both card advantage and mana ramp. We don't often see both on a card, let alone on a commander. So with the right set of other cards he just kinda propels a deck into minor but continuous advantage. It makes him really awesome for casual play.
I think Queen Marchesa's popularity still surprises me. I played her for years because of a few casual shenanigans like setting up a pillowfort that allows me to keep the monarchy forever or making it so when something with deathtouch enters play it deals damage to any target. I just think there are better Mardu commanders. Actually... I know there are better Mardu commanders. And with black it isn't like card draw was ever an issue that needed to be solved by putting it in the command zone. So I dunno, she is cool and fun but seems under powered for the level of popularity.
TypicalTimmy says... #2
Codie. But then again, that's not my style.
December 27, 2021 7:03 p.m.