With Innistrad: Midnight Hunt on the horizon, and a couple of previews already out in the wild, it’s about time we started speaking a few things into existence, or at least trying to.
When you think of Innistrad you think of tribes. Zombies, Humans, Angels, and Vampires, all have exceptional cards from this plane, and they’re often great in Commander too. However, the furriest tribe on the plane has been left out in the cold in that respect. That’s right; we’re talking about Werewolves.
Well, there is one
Alright, it turns out that there is one Legendary Werewolf at the moment, but, well, they’re not great.
Ulrich of the Krallenhorde
Ulrich of the Krallenhorde
Whenever this creature enters or transforms into Ulrich of the Krallenhorde, target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform Ulrich of the Krallenhorde.
is a five mana Red and Green 4/4 that gives a Creature +4/+4 until the end of the turn whenever it enters the battlefield or transforms into Ulrich. They can then transform if no spells were cast in the last turn.
When transformed, they become
Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha
Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha
Whenever this creature enters or transforms into Ulrich of the Krallenhorde, target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform Ulrich of the Krallenhorde.
, which is a 6/6 and when it transforms into itself, you can have it fight a non-Werewolf Creature you don’t control. They change back into Ulrich if two or more spells were cast in the last turn.
On the whole, Ulrich is just aggressively underwhelming. There’s nothing about them that makes them good as the leader of a Werewolf deck; they’re not even really that notable as a Gruul Creature either. Just have a look at the likes of
Omnath, Locus of Rage
Omnath, Locus of Rage
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, create a 5/5 red and green Elemental creature token.
Whenever Omnath or another Elemental you control dies, Omnath deals 3 damage to any target.
,
Wort, the Raid Mother
Wort, the Raid Mother
When Wort enters, create two 1/1 red and green Goblin Warrior creature tokens.
Each red or green instant or sorcery spell you cast has conspire. (As you cast the spell, you may tap two untapped creatures you control that share a color with it. When you do, copy it and you may choose new targets for the copy.)
, and
Neyith of the Dire Hunt
Neyith of the Dire Hunt
Whenever one or more creatures you control fight or become blocked, draw a card.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may pay {2}{R/G}. If you do, double target creature's power until end of turn. That creature must be blocked this combat if able. ({R/G} can be paid with either {R} or {G}.)
. Nearly every other option for Red and Green hugely outclasses Ulrich, and that’s rough for fans of turning into a monster halfway through every game.
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We can do better, surely!
Let’s have a look at some of the commanders available for two other Innistrad tribes, Zombies and Vampires. Zombies are probably one of the most popular tribes in existence because they’re versatile, they have about one million different lords to choose from, and they’re incredibly hard to kill. There are a lot of great commander options here like
Varina, Lich Queen
Varina, Lich Queen
Whenever you attack with one or more Zombies, draw that many cards, then discard that many cards. You gain that much life.
{2}, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
, and
The Scarab God
The Scarab God
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent loses X life and you scry X, where X is the number of Zombies you control.
{2}{U}{B}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Create a token that's a copy of it, except it's a 4/4 black Zombie.
When The Scarab God dies, return it to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.
, but even just looking at the last Innistrad set, you’ve still got
Gisa and Geralf
Gisa and Geralf
When Gisa and Geralf enters, mill four cards.
Once during each of your turns, you may cast a Zombie creature spell from your graveyard.
, who are loads of fun.
Then you’ve got Vampires; while Olivia, Mobilized for War isn’t the best commander ever, they at least tie into the madness subtheme you can have when playing Vampires. Plus, you’ve got Creatures like
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.
, the original Oliva Voldaren, and
Elenda, the Dusk Rose
Elenda, the Dusk Rose
Lifelink
Whenever another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Elenda.
When Elenda dies, create X 1/1 white Vampire creature tokens with lifelink, where X is Elenda's power.
to choose from.
Compare that to Werewolves, and you’ve literally just got Ulrich. Sure, you can pick other Gruul commanders if you want, but none of them ties into the theme of Werewolf Creatures really, so it all feels a little bit hollow. It means you never really feel like you’ve nailed the theme, and that sucks.
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What are the best Werewolf cards in Commander?
There are two Creatures, in particular, that have amazing effects that would be well-suited to leading a pack of Werewolves, and they do, but neither of them is Legendary, so they can’t actually do so in Commander.
Mayor of Avabruck
Mayor of Avabruck
Other Human creatures you control get +1/+1.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform this creature.
is a two-mana Green 1/1 that gives other Human Creatures you control +1/+1, then when transformed becomes Howlpack Alpha, a 3/3 that gives other Werewolf and Wolf Creatures you control +1/+1, and makes a 2/2 Wolf in each of your end steps. That’s the kind of effect we’d love to see for sure, but it’s not the only worthwhile thing to consider.
Geier Reach Bandit is our other pick. They’re a three-mana Red 3/2 with Haste, but when transformed become
Vildin-Pack Alpha
Vildin-Pack Alpha
Haste
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform this creature.
, a 4/3 that allows you to transform any Werewolf that enters the battlefield under your control. It’s an incredibly potent effect, and while a Werewolf deck can succeed thanks to both this and
Mayor of Avabruck
Mayor of Avabruck
Other Human creatures you control get +1/+1.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn, transform this creature.
, we really just need to have these kinds of effects on a Legendary Creature.
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What do we want to see?
Ultimately, we just need to see something that ties a Werewolf deck together properly. It’s not enough to be in the right colors; the card needs to actively enhance your gameplan as a Werewolf deck. Even something as simple as giving all of your Werewolf Creatures flash would work, because you need to be picky about when you’re casting spells to decide if you want things to transform or not.
The other obvious choice is simply making them a lord. Having your Commander give some kind of benefit to all other Werewolf Creatures is basically the simplest, but often most effective, way of making a good commander. It’s not always about strategy; sometimes it’s just about making things bigger and harder to deal with.
We’ve got high hopes for Werewolves in the upcoming Innistrad sets, so we’re really hoping to see this rather monstrous injustice addressed. We just want to mess around with transforming Creatures a bit in Commander, and we think it’s about time we had a decent way of doing so.
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