Commander 2016 Wishlist/Speculation
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Jan. 24, 2016, 12:53 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
With a new year having begun, a new Commander set shall soon be released, so I wish to begin speculation about what cards this years set may contain. I know that it may be too early to begin discussing such a subject, but I still wish to do it, nevertheless, simply to express some of my ideas and wishes for the set.
Covered due to great length Show
I'd say give it a year and a few months... then we'll talk.
Commander sets have, so far, been every other year. I wouldn't expect another until 2017.
January 24, 2016 10:02 a.m. Edited.
FYI, Rayenous, there have been a commander deck each year.
January 24, 2016 10:47 a.m.
Also, I think they are going to print wedge colored decks. They just printed two color decks, so I think it's unlikely that they'll print that again.
Since Khans is rotating, people will also have some wedge colored cards from standard, that they'll be able to use.
January 24, 2016 10:58 a.m.
They will make the allied color decks next.
This is what they did in 2011:
(Kaalia of the Vast)
(Riku of Two Reflections) (Ghave, Guru of Spores) (Zedruu the Greathearted) (The Mimeoplasm)
This is what they did in 2013: (Derevi, Empyrial Tactician) (Oloro, Ageless Ascetic) (Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge W/Nekusar, the Mindrazer) (Prossh, Skyraider of Kher W/Shattergang Brothers) (Marath, Will of the Wild)
Commander 2014: Mono colors
Commander 2015: Enemy Colors
Commander 2016: Speculation Allied Colors
The cards I chose below are my guesses as to which older legendary will be reprinted for each color pairing. The 3 things that make them good candidates are # of versions printed, Age, and Play-ability in that order. A good old card that was only printed once is more likely to be reprinted then a really old card that was printed once but sucks hard.
- Geist of Saint Traft, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV or Hanna, Ship's Navigator + New cards. (Geist is unlikely, Grand Arbiter a little less so.)
- Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, or Wydwen, the Biting Gale. (Based on the assumption that they are using commander 2016 to reprint good commanders that haven't been reprinted, like EVER, whenever they can.)
- (Full Legendary List), Rakdos, Lord of Riots, Olivia Voldaren, Wort, Boggart Auntie, in addition to any new ones. Wort would slot right into the 2013 deck Devour for Power if you turned it into a Shattergang Brothers deck. Also so would Rohgahh of Kher Keep. Is it time to see more Kobold producing cards? Also who knew there was a Legendary Kobold!
- Here is the full search list. Picks are Thromok the Insatiable, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, Wort, the Raidmother. All of those are the older ones that are actually good and have been printed only once. They also are all find standalone commanders but easily slot into the Prossh, Skyraider of Kher / Shattergang Brothers decks. Did I mention that the first 2 with Devour love all these Eldrazi Scion running around lately?
- Here is the complete listing. Top picks are Gaddock Teeg, Rhys the Redeemed, Saffi Eriksdotter, Captain Sisay and Sigarda, Host of Herons. Out of those the only legendary ones are Captain Sisay and Sigarda.
Also note that each of the new Allied color decks would only have 1 of the selections from each entry would go into the decks if they mimic the commander/legendary spread seen in Commander 2015.
I can already imagine the would be some landfall shenanigans like a mini Omnath, Locus of Rage and the one would get XP either when you make tokens or when a legendary creature comes into the field or be some sort of enchantment fetcher. If they go with stuff like that then I would seriously consider playing a 2 color deck.
January 24, 2016 11:58 a.m.
Geist is already getting a reprint in Blessed v Cursed. Also, there's no way they're printing Teeg in a Commander set, it's too punishing for a casual game.
January 24, 2016 11:59 a.m. Edited.
Time for Hanna, Ship's Navigator then? Here's the full list of Legendary creatures. I can't think of a better candidate even though she's very build around me. It would make some sense though as it work so well with Zur the Enchanter and they could make a nice casual deck with a legendary in need of reprint that works in a tri-color competitive deck. If it were Hanna I expect a decent amount of Enchantments or artifacts, but probably enchantments. The artifacts work well with the artifact side of Oloro and Sen Triplets but the enchantments work well with Zur.
January 24, 2016 12:09 p.m.
Hanna makes sense a bit, though I could also see Bruna, Light of Alabaster if they want a more voltron-stylized deck or Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer if they want a more political deck.
January 24, 2016 1:24 p.m.
davidsays1 says... #10
They could also make completely new people, or people that have only been spoken of in lore, the could do ally color or make the nephilims official commanders since they are allowed in some play groups since the designer said he wishes he made them legendary maybe even do 5 colors since they've done 1 2 and 3 colored the past 3 sets.
January 24, 2016 1:37 p.m.
Stormcaller says... #11
Chorus of the Conclave was in the original commander precon so i guess this card is right out.
And i also think that any reprint of a Legends legendary would be highly unlikely.
Gaddock Teeg currently sits at above 30 bucks (tcg mid), kinda speaks against a reprint if you ask me. Black Market was one of the more expensive reprints of the last precons wich was about 5$. So for possible reprints look at that pricerange. Wizards is always trying to balance the value of the set in a way, so that non of the precons outprices the other.
January 25, 2016 1:37 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #12
I agree with Rayenous that this product should have new sets only once every two years, to avoid over-saturating the market and risk the players becoming bored of them.
I also forgot to mention that I would like to see the five lieges from Shadowmoor (Ashenmoor Liege, Boartusk Liege, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Thistledown Liege, and Glen Elendra Liege) printed, as well, since they would be amazing for the decks, but, given that the enemy-colored lieges from Eventide were not reprinted in the previous set, I shall not become too hopeful for any to be in this set, either.
January 26, 2016 10:51 p.m.
Topdeckermtg2016 says... #13
I would love to see a series of 4 color generals with possibly two of eachcolor combo to choose from. Ideas:
Dryad Wizard
Dragon Horror
Angel Incarnation
Vaishino Spirit
Djinn Warrior
I have been playing commander since its beginnings and always wanted these color combinations. I believe they could be very flavorful and have their own unique story line.
January 27, 2016 2:31 p.m.
Stormcaller - Goid point about balancing Precon value and keeping reprints limited to cheaper cards. Gaddock Teeg might be a future modern masters reprint then I suppose.
January 27, 2016 3:28 p.m. Edited.
CampbellStev says... #15
If they were to reprint Hanna, Ship's Navigator in the new Commander 2016 Precon, What do you think would happen to the price of the Judge Promo as it would be the only Foil Version of that art? (Assuming that they would use the newer art for the card.)
January 27, 2016 9:25 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #16
I also would like to see Fire Covenant reprinted, because that card is very useful in a format in which players start with much more life than normal, and, as I have said before, it could really use new artwork. Rhystic Study would be very nice, as well, since the only way to get that card in the new border style is the terribly expensive reprint in Commander's Arsenal.
As for the general themes of the decks, presuming that they are allied colored: I imagine that the white/blue deck shall be very restrictive and controlling, making it difficult for opponents to cast spells or do anything else, while helping its controller to find the solutions they need to their problems. The green/white deck shall likely have an emphasis on gaining life, but also on generating large amounts of small tokens to overwhelm its opponents. I am certain that the red/green deck shall have a great focus on large and powerful creatures with a secondary focus on artifact and/or land destruction. I imagine that the red/black beck will specialize in creature destruction and ways to quickly reduce its opponents' life totals. The black/blue deck is likely to be very sneaky and tricky, with an emphasis on cards that force its opponents to make sadistic choices and subtly manipulating the game.
I also really hope that, if any mass life drain spells are printed in this set, they increase in effect with the number of opponents in the game (i.e., Blood Tithe, Exsanguinate, or Agent of Masks instead of Palace Siege or Drana's Emissary).
January 27, 2016 10:21 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #17
More cards that would make sense would be Ancient Spider, Blazing Specter, Blizzard Specter, Meddling Mage, and Zhur-Taa Druid as low-cost utility creatures for each color combination.
January 27, 2016 10:36 p.m.
What would be awesome if they managed to create 4-coloured commander decks...Difficult to pull of, I know.But I would certainly look forward to that.
January 28, 2016 6:49 a.m.
Topdeckermtg2016 says... #19
I don't think 4 color commander decks would be hard to pull off now with the abundance of cheap dual and tri-colored lands available from Khans and shards of alara as each deck would have 3 of tri colored lands and other lands like Jungle Hollow and Jwar Isle Refuge.
I could see a super awesome story line that has something to do with each 4 color commanders missing color type especially between
Dragon Horror
Angel Incarnation
Where the dragon that is missing white wants to destroy white colored mana in its entirety having a malicious disdain for all that is good while the angel wants nothing more than to snuff black mana out of existence crusading against evil. The other creatures role might have to play that black and white must co exist in the multiverse as a reverence to life and death or they try to form alliances and take sides trying to vanquish black or white for good.
January 28, 2016 8:23 a.m.
davidsays1 says... #21
Well like i was saying they could reprint the 4 colored nephilims, the designer said he regrets not making them legendary, they are allowed as commanders in many play groups, my group uses them.
January 28, 2016 1 p.m.
Topdeckermtg2016 says... #22
They could easily print the nephilims and errata them to legendary, but I think that would be an easy cop-out for wizards to not print new and exciting creatures in 4 colors. They are interesting but lack that cool factor and their abilities are not that great in my opinion. I think they could be the good supplemental third legendaries like we have seen in previous commander sets.
January 28, 2016 2:41 p.m.
How about a legendary five color nephilim? I wouldn't mind seeing a updated Karona too.
January 30, 2016 12:37 a.m.
canterlotguardian says... #24
Yeah my playgroup uses Nephilim as Legends as well. I'd like to see at least one of the Swords of X and Y reprinted. Sword of Body and Mind seems decent in a tokens-style build (I'm trying not to talk about mill because dear sweet Jesus, I'm sick and fucking tired of mill), Sword of Feast and Famine in spite of being reprinted recently in the Modern event deck could also be nice in a lands-based deck.
January 30, 2016 11:10 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #25
Four-colored cards are very difficult to design due to being ungainly and complex, because they need to incorporate elements of each color that they have. Five-colored cards actually more efficient to use, because having all five colors gives them access to a much greater variety of abilities, and the manabases are often better, as well, at least from what I have observed.
February 3, 2016 10:03 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #26
Also, I presume that it is definitely far too early to begin speculating about Modern Masters 2017? I am certain that there shall be a third set in that series, given that the first two seem to have been relatively popular.
February 3, 2016 10:05 p.m.
Four coloured commanders can be done, but it is hard to create them from the perspective of all the four colours combined, it is somewhat easier from the perspective of what they lack and exaggerating those. Let me explain. For instance a speculative 4 coloured commander in the array of , and without . That means that the colours themselves are not balanced, thus tends more towards and being 'pro-life/nature', while will be more destructive (as it gravitates towards without the subtleties and manipulation of next to it.
I can image our speculative commander, as above having cmc 6, and (I am not great at making cards so bear with me, I think you'll get where I'm going at) Vigilance and 'Whenever ~ deals combat damage put a 2/1 elemental creature token into play. It has 
, sac: draw a card, if you do discard a card.' Or something
February 4, 2016 3:23 a.m.
Topdeckermtg2016 says... #28
Exactly for 4 color commanders they can and should be done. You just have to look and see what color is missing and not incorporate those mana specific elements and abilities. They would be challenging for a card designer but nothing impossible. They have a genuine uniqueness to them just like any shard combination. Yes the mana base gets harder to achieve but that's the offset for getting an extra color. Plus like I said above there are a lot of $cost effective dual and triple lands that can be easily packaged into a commander product. Plus the flavor and story plots would be amazing.
February 4, 2016 8:47 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #29
I also would very much like to see Archangel of Thune, Eldrazi Conscription, and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir reprinted in this set, because all of them have become rather expensive recently (between 15 and 20 dollars for a single copy).
February 8, 2016 10:42 p.m.
Personally, I think that this year's Commander pre cons could go one of a few ways:
a) Allied colours- the most likely of the 3
b) 4 colours - what I'm hoping for, but I'd still buy allied coloured.
c) A random mix of themes within Colourless/Five Colour? Because currently the only Legends in Colourless are either Artifacts, or Eldrazi; and with 5 colour it'd be nice to get some Sliver/Ur-Dragon/Ally reprints, or some entirely new themes.
May 9, 2016 7:17 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #31
Guftders, I definitely wish to see both five-color and colorless EDH decks, as well, but those will likely be after allied colors, since those seem to be the next logical choice, as WotC shall likely use familiar and common color choices for the decks before using more esoteric styles.
May 9, 2016 10:39 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #32
I would also really like to see Sheoldred, Whispering One in this set, because I plan to use her in a deck that I am building, and she has become quite expensive (up to $20 for a single copy).
May 10, 2016 2:54 p.m.
davidsays1 says... #33
Ive heard from multiple shop owners the next set is 4 color but i would prefer ally since they just did enemy
June 8, 2016 1:37 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #35
swkelly89, I actually started this thread before that thread, but, since that thread is more popular, I have no problem with using it instead of this one for discussion of the upcoming set.
JA14732 says... #2
Way too early bro. Give it a few months and then we'll talk.
January 24, 2016 1:31 a.m.