The full decklists for the new Innistrad: Crimson Vow Commander decks are now out in the wild, and we’re really quite happy with them. Both Vampiric Bloodline and Spirit Squadron are fun takes on the two tribes, and we’re excited to get our hands on them and then mess about with the new cards.
However, we were kind of hoping that these two decks might be tri-color. That’s because we could always do with more commanders for these two tribes with three colors. In fact, while Mardu has
Edgar Markov
Edgar Markov
Eminence — Whenever you cast another Vampire spell, if Edgar is in the command zone or on the battlefield, create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token.
First strike, haste
Whenever Edgar attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on each Vampire you control.
,
Licia, Sanguine Tribune
Licia, Sanguine Tribune
This spell costs {1} less to cast for each 1 life you gained this turn.
First strike, lifelink
Pay 5 life: Put three +1/+1 counters on Licia. Activate only during your turn and only once each turn.
, and
Mathas, Fiend Seeker
Mathas, Fiend Seeker
Menace
At the beginning of your end step, put a bounty counter on target creature an opponent controls. For as long as that creature has a bounty counter on it, it has "When this creature dies, each opponent draws a card and gains 2 life."
, Spirits don’t actually have any three-color representation whatsoever.
Where are our Jeskai Spirit commanders?
As it stands, while there are a few Jeskai commanders, the only one that really fits with Spirits at all is
Kykar, Wind’s Fury
Kykar, Wind’s Fury
Flying
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying.
Sacrifice a Spirit: Add {R}.
. Kykar costs four mana, and is a 3/3 with flying that creates a 1/1 Spirit with flying whenever you cast a noncreature spell, and also allows you to sacrifice a Spirit to add one red mana to your mana pool.
Kykar is a Bird Wizard though, not a Spirit. While we do appreciate that they’re linked to the tribe in some way, it’s not the same as having a true Spirit commander. They have, however, become a little stronger thanks to the recent addition of disturb, which often has creatures coming back as noncreature spells, and also
Hallowed Haunting
Hallowed Haunting
As long as you control seven or more enchantments, creatures you control have flying and vigilance.
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, create a white Spirit Cleric creature token with "This token's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Spirits you control."
.
It means that Spirits in Commander can now be a nice hybrid between tribal decks, enchantments, and casting things from exile. These are all good fun, and the deck has had a huge upgrade this year thanks to cards like
Hofri Ghostforge
Hofri Ghostforge
Spirits you control get +1/+1 and have trample and haste.
Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, exile it. If you do, create a token that's a copy of that creature, except it's a Spirit in addition to its other types and it has "When this token leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to its owner's graveyard."
, and basically just all of the Spirits in the new Innistrad sets. Still, we’re very glad to see the tribe doing new things this year. We’ll just have to wait to see if something next year gives us the Jeskai Spirit commander that we’re craving. Fingers crossed, eh?
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