Well, I didn't really feel like discussing it when they showed us a few cards a while ago because the set was still a long way off, and I didn't want to be the first person to bring up the leaks now because I've seen so much fake moral outrage directed at people who share or discuss them online, but I guess now is a good time to vent my frustration... *deep exasperated sigh*

I'll be honest, between the new Baron Sengir card and the two new Planeswalkers, my excitement for this set has pretty much died completely. Who in the Nine Hells thought it was a good idea - or even an acceptable thing to do - to take some of the coolest and most iconic old school characters and design them as Partners? Why would anyone want watered down "half-Commander" versions of Baron Sengir or Tevesh Szat??? Baron Sengir is my favourite Magic villain of all time and Vampires are my favourite tribe in the game, there is absolutely no way I'm going to run Baron Sengir as a Commander only to partner him with another Commander (and he's going to be pretty bad in the 99). Just playing him without another Partner isn't really a satisfying option either, because I'd always feel like I'm intentionally playing a weaker deck than I actually should (and they took away the Vampire tribal aspect that his original card had anyway). I was already upset that we didn't get a new Baron Sengir when the Edgar Markov deck came out, and I'm certainly even more upset about it in retrospect (I'm pretty sure that deck had one fewer new legend than all the other decks of that year, so Sengir definitely should have been there).

Tevesh Szat doesn't even do anything that evokes the character, except maybe for the second ability that rewards you for "betraying" Szat's ally. The other two abilites have no context whatsoever, and the way they handled Partner in this set means he had to be mono-black rather than, say, Grixis. It's made even worse by the fact that his German name definitely translates as "Tevesh Szat, (the) Doom of Fools", so they've basically wasted that one and can never use it again on a "proper" Szat planeswalker. I'm really glad that I haven't ordered copies of Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury and Lord Windgrace yet to start collecting the Nine Titans like I intended, because that idea has pretty much died now that Szat got... this.


That brings me to the root of the problem I have with this set: the way they handled Partner, or, in more general terms, the way in which they designed this set around draft. Nobody ever has expressed any desire to draft Commander, at least not that I'm aware of. When I said I wanted more Partners in this set, I meant maybe a cycle or two, and mostly to give us the missing cycle of allied-colour Partners that was missing last time. The idea certainly wasn't to completely flood the set with them, make them all mono-coloured and to apply them to iconic and powerful characters (least of all planeswalkers) that would have deserved "proper" Commander cards that are played on their own. Besides, WotC has had a terrible track record when it comes to playtesting their new sets lately, so I'd be shocked if some pairs didn't end up completely broken. I bet this whole draft angle is going to be used to justify ridiculous upshifts in rarity, a lack of needed reprints, and - due to requiring extensive playtesting - a high price tag.

You know what also really infuriates me? The way in which Commander Spellbook: Green (I think it's not actually called that, but I can't even be bothered to check) ties into this. I've been waiting for new artwork (and maybe new flavour text) for staples like Command Tower and Sol Ring for years, and now that THE Commander set is finally upon is, we still aren't getting any of that. No, those are included in that whale hunting product that really didn't need them. It's the same dumb kind of artificial scarcity they applied to the Jumpstart basic lands, which means they intentionally made Commander Legends a slightly worse product than it could - and should - have been.


Oh, and I almost forgot about that bloody angel. So apparently Creative decided to not listen to reason and to just throw away another chunk of continuity by not using that mysterious line about "Lysene" for this character. Well done wasting your only chance to ever resolve that one and make it relevant. Heck, they gave her a name that even sounds almost like Lysene. Like, I can't even. Am I taking crazy pills? Is Creative taking crazy pills??? Besides, designing a card that's supposed to be part of a cycle with the existing angel sisters and then making it all about Commander-specific mechanics feels super wrong.


Then there's the fact that most of the new art I've seen in this set has been far from great, or how weird a lot of those card designs are. The list goes on and on...


That Tormod card is nice though, and so is that dwarf legend. Tormod is a great example of a character that works really well as a Partner.

I think the first ability is about Tevesh Szat's connection to Sarpadia and role in Fallen Empires and the third ability is his manipulation of planeswalkers and other characters like Darigaaz in the Ice Age and Nine Titans stories. I get how that may not be satisfactory though.

As someone who almost only drafts, I think the idea of drafting Commander decks sounds fun and I'm disappointed it's not on Arena because unless this set is still in stores in 2021, I won't be able to draft it in person. But, I also see how relegating these major historical characters to partners is a big letdown. It feels like the card is not complete on its own. It would maybe work better if all these characters would feel appropriate with a partner character and that character had a card in the set, even if they're not specific partner withs, like Hal and Alena.

I want to draft Commander, and I know a lot of other people do too. Commander cube is a thing that a lot of people have tried to make work for a while now.

Basically, I agree with everything neru said. All of this would feel better if there was a "right" partner for each one. We'll see what the rest of the set looks like.

Well, I guess the only question is what I partner Doom of Fools with. I know I want to at least get Blue in there, so that I can hit Chromium with Thoughtlace+Dark Banishing. Red would be nice too, so if there's a good partner that's ideal, but mono will do.

I actually LIKE the effects. It has an internal mechanical synergy, a connection to Sarpadia, and a kit that sees you pulling manipulations, and a flavor that evokes betrayal. The ult is a little wonky, but also a really great "oh crap" moment if it hits the table. And from a mechanical standpoint, what does Szat want to do? Modern PWs are written with a power-set in mind, oldwalkers like Szat weren't. Some are easy, like Serra being all about life-gain and angels, but what else WOULD you make the Doom of Fools? I'm pretty sure my own YMTC efforts have had abilities very similar to the +1 (Sac something, be rewarded), typically with what is a possibly more fitting but possibly more bland "blow up the world" ult. Given how bloody powerful/important it is for a PW to cough up their own defenses, the +2 is actually pretty good. In Fallen Empires, Szat (once he emerges as Szat) pretty much fireballs indiscriminately and portals Orcs into Montford to sow destruction. In Ice Age, he slyly fed dark power to Jason Carthalion to bring Storgard to ruin and kill mortal Freyalise. At the summit of the null moon, he's part of the group planning to call the council then betray and murder everyone possible for personal gain. He tries to hijack and reverse Freyalise's worldspell. Then he shows up in invasion block to trick Darigazz into doing evil things just like he tricked Jason, and once again joins the big planeswalker get-together to backstab and murder people. So when his card has Partner, that seems alright because he's almost never worked alone. When it calls commanders to you and backstabs your entities for profit, more profit if you stab a commander, that seems about right for what he's done just about every time he's appeared.

I'd say I'm definitely more upset about Szat (as well as Sengir and Jeska) having Partner than with some of the minutia of Szat's design, because as neru said, it makes them feel incomplete. Partner is appropriate for the low-tier characters that got it the first time around, and I was cool brewing decks with Partners that had absolutely no flavourful connection whatsoever but made for an interesting deck idea. When you drag powerful and iconic old characters into it, though, all you do is diminish them.

And yeah, I guess you could kinda justify each individual ability, but to me personally at least, it all feels very forced and artificial. Szat didn't really have a connection to thrulls that goes beyond "they were both from Sarpadia" and "he casually burned some of them to cinders once". His ultimate feels less like subtle manipulation and more like outright mind-control that comes out of nowhere, and the way all three abilities synergise boils down to "sacrifice stuff, and maybe steal other people's stuff to sacrifice first", which doesn't feel all that flavourful to me. The card as a whole feels like it's missing something, like a direction or a clear through-line, which is exactly why this is only one half of your pair of Commanders. The "manipulation" aspect might have come across more clearly if they'd given him a political ability that incentivises your opponents to turn on each other. Ultimately, I'd probably have preferred a design that benefits from bad stuff happening to your opponents (life loss, creatures dying, discarding cards, something like that), probably via a static ability. Add some ability (or abilities) that help you make that happen, and you have a flavourful design for Tevesh Szat, I would think. That would also play well with Dead of Winter, and it would capture the flavour of him fireballing people to death, or killing Elder Dragons with wonky combos, or plunging the world into an eternal Ice Age. Szat takes joy in the downfall of others and actively seeks to cause it, which, I would argue, is the actual goal behind his schemes and his manipulation. He wants to see the world burn. Or freeze. It doesn't matter as long as, in the end, there will be sssilence. I think his card misses pretty much all of that. It's a design that gets bogged down with little details like thrulls but that has lost sight of the bigger picture. And it really would have helped if he could have been , or at the very least .

And let's be real, the only character that would feel right as a Partner for Tevesh Szat would be Leshrac, and that would require them to make a Leshrac planeswalker with Partner, which in turn would just perpetuate the problem and diminish Leshrac as well, so they couldn't really win on that front.



Concerning Sengir, it vexes me to no end that they removed his tibal support, as I said above. The thing that made the original Baron Sengir card unique wasn't that he got bigger when he ate stuff, that was just Sengir Vampire on steroids (with an ability that was never really that good). No, it was that he could regenerate your vampires. Some kind of tribal support would have felt more than appropriate for someone who was about to conquer the Homelands with an army of vampires when we last saw him. The +1/+1 counter thing on the new card is great and all, but the second ability kinda makes it a "win more" card and takes away space they should have used for Vampire tribal, or at least some sort of go wide support to evoke his army.

I've seen a number of people thru the years saying they wanted a draft commander, different circles maybe?

And while I'm disappointed in a number of the partners flavor-wise, from a commander player I like tinkering around with different builts and combos and a lot of two color combos are kinda boring. Everyone rags on RW but I find WU BG GU and UB all the same archetypes 2-3 types of decks (minus the barely different flavors of tribal).

Plus there is gonna be 30 new legends who won't be mono-colored and have partner.



A few people have pointed out the other powderpuff girls are got different but similar sounding names in other countries, her name might be Lysine when translated. Heck I've seen several translations of what her flight is suppose to be called (Twilight, Shadows, Dusk/Sunset).

Yeah, Draft is at its most fun when it's about synergy and cards that seem useless or at best draft filler becoming mythic uncommons and commons in the right deck. If this set is built correctly, it would emphasize that through the Commanders. Drafting two Partner Commanders is like build-your-own-signpost-uncommon.

Companions were disastrous in Constructed but in Draft, they were really fun and impactful game changers.

Fair enough, then it's definitely a matter of different circles. My playgroup is as puzzled by the idea as I am (and we love playing Draft and Cube as well), and I don't remember seeing any demand for a Commander draft set online, but I'm happy that the people who always wanted to do it are getting their set. I'm just really concerned about what it'll do for the set design as a whole, but we'll just have to wait for the other 300+ cards in the set to know for sure.

I mean, sure, I love the tinkering aspect of Partner, too, that's why I said I wanted more Partners in the first place. But seeing old characters getting new cards or being on a card for the first time is one of my favourite things about supplemental products - if not THE favourite thing - and Baron Sengir and Tevesh Szat feel like they should have been my personal highlights of this set. So that has soured my on the prevalence of Partners in this set very badly. Part of the problem is that, once a new card for an old character has been designed, we are extremely unlikely to ever get another one, or most certainly not any time soon. It's done now, we're probably just never going to get another Tevesh Szat or another Baron Sengir that are actually cool and that really represent those characters. That's depressing, and who knows how many other bad representations of important characters are going to be in this set, Partner or not.


You know, I had briefly considered this before I posted about it, but then dismissed it because it seemed silly to me that the German translators would change 'Lysene' to 'Liesa'. Your post has made me check, though, and it turns out that 'Gisela' is actually just called 'Sela' on both her cards in German. So... maybe? (I'm actually German myself, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a German Gisela card). The German translators usually kinda suck at their job, and they've done silly things like changing the spelling of 'Selesnya' to 'Selesnija' or 'Tibalt' to 'Thibalt' although none of this would actually change the pronunciation in German, so I guess there's hope. I haven't seen a single image of the leaked card that wasn't all pixels, so I can't even confirm what it actually says on the card.

Are there visuals, or do we just have text spoilers? Do we have any way of knowing if these are real?

Lots of low quality images, but enough to either be real or an extremely elaborate fake. https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/mag ... ebay-leaks

The discussion about Partner got me thinking about established characters that would work well as Partners and that might actually benefit from it instead of feeling watered down.

So far, we have Halana and Alena, which is great (but dear god, the artwork on both of them... ). Other characters that come to mind would be:

- Chandler and Joven
- Sash and Waistcoat (yes, really)
- Yisan, the Wanderer Bard and Jalira, Master Polymorphist
- Gisa and Geralf, though those would probably feel pretty redundant at this point
- the two halves of Riku of Two Reflections, though that's probably not a great idea for mono-colour
- the Brothers Yamazaki
- Gallowbraid and Morinfen
- Maeveen O'Donagh and Vervamon the Elder
- maybe Grover and Loot Niptil?
- Agnate and Thaddeus
- Crunchgnar and Miss Highwater
- Kolbjörn and his wife Disa the Restless
- Drafna and Hurkyl

Ixidor and Nivea, pit fighters
Agrus and Feather, beat cops

Jhoira and Kerrick
Lukka and Jirina
Oko and Dog

I'm bad at this.

is it time for a metathran to make a reappearance
or maybe a nightstalker, that would be sick

Magic Online has a lot of cool art, although a lot of it is commissioned for reserve list cards. I would guess Cuombajj Witches since they are pretty fun in multiplayer.

Indeed. I'm still hoping for Agnate and Thaddeus as Partners. Commander Legends aside, there is some evidence in the canon that the Metathran don't age and are probably still around (some of them even ended up guarding some merfolk colonies underwater), so I hope we see them again on Dominaria one day.

Yes. Yes, it would. Heck, a card for Tojira, Swamp Queen would also be great, and making her care about Nightstalkers would be a fitting design. I guess there isn't going to be enough Nightstalker tribal in this set for a legendary Nightstalker lord, but it would be dope if we got something like that in Modern Horizons II.

Oooh, that would be cool. Yeah, the witches look like fun, and the Magic Online art is amazing.

Speaking of, a really old lore pull was just leaked days ago: Glacian and Rebbec

Oooh, now that's a decent Partner pair.

One of the leaks is Bell Borca, Agrus's ghost partner from the first Ravnica book. Was not expecting that at all.

Appropriate to have partner, I'll grant that
Is it spirit or otherwise?

Spirit Soldier, based on the translation here.