https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2019-10-30

Amongst the many Commander products going to be released next year, coming off the heels of War of the Spark this one's much more interesting: 70 new Legends! Gavin already gave two really interesting previews:


Baron Sengir


(revamped) Jeska!

Let's discuss! Who do you think will get into this product? :3

Gavin also revealed in the announcement video that the Jeska card will be a planeswalker and "the face of the set." Here's the full art:

Wow.
That's a technically excellent piece and she's ugly as sin.

Also, this, this right here, this is why I dislike the format:

Yeah, as a non-Commander player, I too am not a fan of Wizards deciding that it is the premier casual format.

I don't really think it's Wizard's decision. It's just the numbers. More people play commander than any other casual format, and that would probably be true even if they didn't put this much effort into it. After all, we did get a dedicated 2HG set not too long ago, but it didn't create a community in the same way commander has. I'm sure they will keep supporting other casual formats still, but commander is the only format which has enough demand to get this level of focus.

Happy to finally see a new Baron Sengir. The art is kinda soulless and a bit too wizardly for the good Baron (according to the creators of Homelands, he understands very little of magic), but it might turn out okay at card size. I would've much preferred to either get new art by Pete Venters or a newer artist who really shines at depicitons of real looking people, such as Chase Stone.

And I agree with Barinellos about that Jeska artwork, someone managed to clearly be a skilled artist and still produce an abomination. Everything from the neck up just doesn't look like Jeska. Maybe Ramaz' little sister, but not Jeska. Like, god damn it, there is a ton of reference material out there for drawing her bloody face, especially the tattoos. But nope, gotta make something that looks completely different for no reason, with no art department stepping in and telling the artist to fix it. I'll have to see the final card to decide whether the art makes it unplayable or not. At least it's not Serra-level awful...

Gets funnier when you realise that the bats flying around Baron Sengir are all fruit bats.

It's because they're aiming at a recovered Phage, not a restored Jeska.

Is there a (visual) difference, though? Both Phage and pre-ascension Jeska had the same black facial tattoos (which are absent in the new art), and if anything, her hair should get darker because of Phage's influence (which it temporarily does in the Time Spiral trilogy), not brighter.

Edit: You know, it just occurred to me that Rebecca Guay also would have been a good choice for the new Baron Sengir art, having done a good job with him in the comic and all that.

I kinda felt like reviving this thread again, mostly because Commander Legends is the only booster-set this year that I'm remotely interested in. In fact, I'm really looking forward to this one.

So... *shrug* Which 'walkers and legends would you like to see in the set? Which ones do you think are the most likely? Which mechanics from previous Commander products would you like to make a return? Which cards would you like to see reprinted?

Personally, I'd be super happy to see pretty much any old character in card form as long as the card design and the artwork range somewhere between "acceptable" and "completely epic". (By "old" I mostly mean pre-Mending and preferably related to Dominaria or other planes of that old-school era). In fact, I think delivering on that front could be an excellent way to draw in players who are enfranchised old-school Vorthoses but don't like Commander. I mean, there'll probably be a ton of stuff that isn't too Commander specific and that could find a use in normal casual decks and flavourful theme decks.


There are sooo many options when it comes to planeswalkers, but I'd be most hyped for Urza, Leshrac, Feroz or the rest of the Nine Titans. Or, you know, a new Serra that can be your Commander and doesn't have unplayable artwork... Ravidel would be great, too, or Dakkon and Jared, though I'm actually still hoping we'll see the latter two in a regular set some day, because they could still be around (I'd just arbitrarily decide that Dakkon became ageless by absorbing all that life energy through the Blackblade).
Jeska has already been confirmed, and it crossed my mind the other day that I'd really like her to turn into a creature. Between starting out as a pit fighting barbarian and fighting Radha in the Time Spiral trilogy, she's all about single combat.


When it comes to Commander mechanics, I'd really love to see more Commander options with Partner. And I'm talking about the original Partner mechanic, not that "Partner with" nonsense from Battlebond. I mean, there are some really flavourful things that they could do with it, but the mechanic was kinda weird and counter-intuitive. I guess it would be less weird in constructed Commander where both Partners start in the command zone. There are certainly some gaps to fill across the colour pie when it comes to "normal" Partner, like another cycle of allied-colour Partners, mono-coloured ones, maybe a three-coloured cycle or a single colourless Partner.
In addition to that, I'd hyperventilate (like, in a good way) if there were some Snow cards, too. I'm a huge sucker for Snow. And just generally more "legendary matters" cards. Because my Jodah legendary good stuff deck needs even more absurdity


Cards that I think are likely to show up:

- Innistrad's white-black angel sister, unless they have plans to bring her back in a yet-to-be-announced return to Innistrad. I'll screech pretty hard if they don't name her Lysene, though (and thus finally pick up that name Sorin muttered on Zendikar).

- A five-colour planeswalker that can be your commander. It's a popular request, and it would be our first WUBRG 'walker in a black border. I'll screech pretty hard if it isn't Taysir, though.

- Halana and Alena, either on one card or on two different cards (preferably with Partner).

- At least one character from Children of the Nameless. New Davriel, Tacenda and/or her sister, one of Davriel's demons... Maybe Crunchgnar would be the best option, simply because he died and won't be around for the next visit to Innistrad, and he'd be more straightforward to design than the sisters with their mysterious Entity baggage...

- The rest of the old Weatherlight crew (Orim, Ertai and Crovax. Technically Hanna and Karn as well, though I don't really think they actually need new cards per se).

Give me Leshrac or give me death.

Sitrik birth priest and Croag would also be acceptable.

Gatha and Kreig partners.

New Barrin because damn his last card was garbage.

- I hope the Baron isn't the only Homelands returnee
To see Autumn Willow in this generation's art would floor me so hard (Yongjae Choi or Livia Prima plz!)
Any Oldwalker related with the plane would also be nice. (I'm not putting my bets for a Feroz, but Taysir or Sandruu would be nice...)

-And oh! A new Orim art indeed! Yongjae Choi or Livia Prima again would be nice! Haha!

I'm also really hoping for more partners.

I'd be flat out surprised if we didn't get Gix.

Beyond that, I'd have to really sit and think of what I'd like to see when it comes to older characters. I an highly anticipating that they finish off the main stays of the weatherlight, like Orim and heck, we might even get a new Rofellos.

I'd really like to see a new Orc legend, preferably one cast in the image of the more popular and classic orc look.

Something that has always slightly bothered me is when we've had certain characters names appear in ownership of something, but there was no representation of said character.

That said, it's somewhat inconsistent. I wouldn't want, for instance, a Tormod card, but I think I'd like to see Talara.
For that matter, does Ashnod have a card?

It would also really make me happy if they gave some love to the weird creature types. As above, a new Orc would be cool, but my mind would be blown if they gave us the commander of the Metathran from invasion.

Hell, yeah. And I think I'd like it if they actually moved his colour identity into , simply because it would feel like a better representation of his powers (and open up more interesting deck building options than mono- ).

Agreed, I'm always happy about more Homelands-related stuff, and they really could do a lot with a new take on Autumn Willow's art, not to mention card design. Chandler, Joven, Reveka and Eron the Relentless might also make for interesting card designs with a more modern approach. And I wouldn't say no to a Ihsan, Serra Paladin either.

And I would just be ecstatic to see either Feroz ( or ), Taysir (obviously five-coloured and nothing but five-coloured), Sandruu (let's say ?), Ravi (probably or ) or a new Serra done by a different artist. Heck, what if they end up giving us Serra and Feroz planeswalkers with Partner, or both on one card? Granted, it would be really hard to make them work together in a meaningful and resoant way mechanically, but theirs is and always will be my favourite love story in all of Magic. I would probably settle for something like Serra's wedding ring as a legendary artifact or for Feroz's memorial, though.

I'd die to know how many planeswalkers are actually going to be in the set and whether all of them will be playable as Commanders, and also what mechanical themes or archetypes are going to be supported (it's supposed to be draftable after all). If we knew any of that, it would be a lot easier to make educated guesses. Specualtion and wishful thinking are also quite fun, though.


You mean Takara, right? But yeah, I'd be happy to see her get a card. Ashnod doesn't have her own card yet, nope, but I think she's one of the most frequent requests, as is Gix.

I hope one day we'll have pretty much all prominent characters from the Brothers' War era up to the Invasion as cards. From the top of my head, that would include:

Brothers' War Era:
- Ashnod
- Drafna and Hurkyl
- Kayla (something to do with Sagas, verse counters or lore counters?)
- mayyyybe Harbin
- Tocasia
- mayyyybe Loran
- a younger Urza to match Mishra, Artificer Prodigy and an older Mishra to match Urza, Lord High Artificer (people have been crying for a Commander-viable Mishra since forever anyway)

Urza block and Rath-related stuff
- Gix
- mayyyybe Ratepe
- perhaps some of those weird planeswalkers that are mentioned in Planeswalker, like Meshuvel or the fan-favourite pavilion Manatarqua
- Gatha and Kreig
- mayyyybe Gherridarigaaz (Darigaaz' mother), because more dragon legends
- Croag and maybe some other Phyrexian Praetors
- Davvol
- Belbe

Invasion
- the rest of the Nine Titans as planeswalkers, and ideally their Titan Engines as well, if they want to go really epic
- Grizzlegom
- Agnate and Thaddeus (preferably with Partner, and they both get a bonus if both cards are in play)
- maybe a new Eladamri
- whatever new versions of the Weatherlight crew they are going to print

I skipped a lot of important stuff like The Dark through Ice Age and Mirage/Visions, but the characters there are probably not as well known as the other ones and a lot of them already have cards...

A new orc or some other underused creature type would be a nice breath of fresh air. Are you thinking of a completely new character or one of the more obscure established characters? For what it's worth, there are a few prominent orcs in Song of Time, or General Jonar from 'The Crucible of the Orcs' from The Colors of Magic. I'd very much prefer an orc legend from Dominaria (even if it's a completely new one), but I have a feeling they'd lean into Ixalan or Tarkir for more orcs, since that was where they featured prominently in the last couple of years...

Something like a kor legend from present-day Dominaria would also be neat, or perhaps one of the shadow races. Lyna of the Soltari, anyone? And I guess Kamigawa has some more kitsune and soratami from the books that don't have cards either, though I'm more a fan of cat warriors. We could get Jaeger or an older version of Jedit when he's king of Efrava. If you want to go super obscure, there are always more chelonians and eumidians (turtle folk and wasp folk from Legends II) or more nekoru...

Not Takara, Talara of Shadowmoor. She had a battalion.

Speaking of Shadowmoor, I'd like to see Illulia. I want a cool cinder, and Ashling is such a disappointing card.

*Searches for cards that reference Talara*

Ah, sorry, my bad. Turns out I absolutely wasn't aware of that one.


You know what would be hilarious? Cards for Sash and Waistcoat with Partner. That would get some absolutely hysterical laughter out of me, and so would the internet's reaction.

I only want Sash and Waistcoat if they are actually good cards. Mostly because I feel like that would annoy people even more. Like, sitting there in draft having to deal with the fact that your best pick would be Waistcoat, but picking it would make you feel dirty...

Is there something wrong with me?

On a more serious note, I would like to see another cycle of four color commanders. I would suggest using either hybrid costs or off-color activations though, because the door color mana cost just makes for awkward design space.