The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is now spoiled, and I somehow am excited for even more cards making their way into Commander than I was with Wilds of Eldraine. This set isn’t the most powerful for Commander in and of itself, but there are some solid role players that may fill some holes in a lot of decks that could use the help.
Bloodletter of Aclazotz
Well, it’s not that the format needed yet another way to one hit kill someone. Bloodletter of Aclazotz has the nice niche of shutting down specifically Ad Nauseum. Its utility doesn’t end there, however. Any deck that wants to pull of Wound Reflection shenanigans, as well as adding yet another Torbran, Thane of Red Fell effect in any sort of Rakdos deck. Maybe we can bring the Rakdos Scam Modern archetype over to Commander now, and utilize this as a cheap way to kill opponents quickly?
Get Lost
Okay, seriously.
They keep printing removal that’s tailor-made for Commander, and people still don’t wanna play it. Get Lost is legitimately one of the best removal spells we could ask for, especially if you’re playing red and white. The synergy with Dockside Extortionist is obvious, but the big thing here is how map tokens aren’t treasure tokens. You don’t just get things for free, and pinching opponents by even a single mana can matter quite a bit, especially in higher powered tables or cEDH tables. Keep a close eye on this one.
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
This card might be busted.
Remember when I talked about Minsc and Boo, Timeless Heroes last week? Well, a problem with that style of deck is that without hard combo kills, you’re kind of just a classic monsters deck. You have reach for sure, with pump spells and Minsc and Boo themselves providing an outlet to close the door on people. But sometimes you may need a little extra to clinch a table. Ojer Axonil is the answer to that.
The big clause is non-combat damage, which is fine. It would require a different approach to building the deck. Instead of relying on hamsters and big creatures themselves, you’ll want to have a lot of small damage sources to really chip away at your opponents’ resources in the early game, while also being, at minimum, four damage slings. The big benefit to this card is the ability to utilize your pump spells to even greater effect. Typically this would be a win-more scenario, but considering you may never amass a board to take out the entire table at once with this type of deck, this could be the next best way outside of the usual combos. That Lightning Bolt will now hit for 10, and throwing Ojer Axonil for another 10 will surely get an opponent out of there before they can blink. The land side of this card isn’t the most exciting, but there will be corner cases where you’ll need the extra source for a spell, and transforming it back isn’t too hard either, because you have hamsters. I’m absolutely going to try this, and I think I’ll have very strong takeaways from it.
I know it’s hard to keep up with all the set releases in recent times, but I always have my eye out for new and shiny things to try and utilize. Commander is an ever growing format, and it’s only going to get better and better as more sets are released. I’ll be sure to continue this trend as long as I can!
Anthony Lowry (they/he) is a seasoned TCG, MMORPG, and FPS veteran. They are extensively knowledgeable on the intricacies of many competitive outlets, and are always looking for a new challenge in the gaming sphere.