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Magic: The Gathering Design Lead Teases New Cards For Commander Legends

Spoiler season for Magic: The Gathering's final set release of 2020 has almost arrived and, as usual, lead designer Mark Rosewater has decided to preface those previews with a laundry list's length of teasers intended to whet players' appetites. Having become something of a tradition in recent years, Rosewater's hints (found over on his Blogatog) are presented in the form of vague descriptions which, while accurately describing the card each belongs to, purposely omits other pieces of critical information in order to keep fans speculating.

Magic: the Gathering

Spoiler season for Magic: The Gathering‘s final set release of 2020 has almost arrived and, as usual, lead designer Mark Rosewater has decided to preface those previews with a laundry list’s length of teasers intended to whet players’ appetites. Having become something of a tradition in recent years, Rosewater’s hints (found over on his Blogatog) are presented in the form of vague descriptions which, while accurately describing the card each belongs to, purposely omits other pieces of critical information in order to keep fans speculating.

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This time around, the guessing game is separated into three categories, beginning with a summary of several mechanics which will appear in Commander Legends. The cryptic clues are as follows:

  • A card that lists fourteen creature abilities
  • A card that returns three different cards types from the graveyard to the battlefield
  • A card that basically turns one evergreen keyword action into another evergreen keyword action
  • A card that temporarily steals a creature from a new place
  • A card that’s stronger the fewer colors in your commander’s color identity
  • Multiple legendary creatures of siblings of previous legendary creatures
  • A card that grants certain kinds of protection based on what permanents you have on the battlefield
  • A card that references both beginning phase and post-combat main phase
  • A legendary creature that shares four of the five words in its name with three other legendary creatures
  • A creature with four words of rules text and fifty-two words of reminder text

Next up is rules text. As a format with access to cards from almost every era of Magic, some of these, such as protection from salamanders, may present themselves as borderline useless to folks mostly familiar with Standard, though for Commander, everything requires a counter, regardless of its obscurity.

See below for a selection of those being printed for Legends:

  • “damage doesn’t cause you to lose life”
  • “any number of Auras and Equipment you control”
  • “except for commanders”
  • “where X is the number of attacking creatures with flying”
  • “Whenever a token you control leaves the battlefield”
  • “Whenever one or more Pirates you control deal damage to your opponents”
  • “Commanders you control have”
  • “X is the number of artifacts you control plus the number of artifact cards in your graveyard”
  • “chosen at random from among your opponents”
  • “You and permanents you control have protection from Salamanders”

Last but not least, Rosewater reels off the names of several confirmed creature types. It’s worth noting, of course, that any card labelled as a Legendary Creature (Planeswalkers count, too) can be used as a deck’s titular commander, so the below will no doubt give theory crafters plenty of fuel to start building their ideal deck ahead of the expansion’s launch next month.

  • Legendary Creature –  Horse
  • Legendary Creature – Elemental Lizard
  • Legendary Creature – Spirit Pirate
  • Legendary Creature – Elephant Warrior
  • Legendary Creature – Chimera
  • Legendary Creature – Naga Druid
  • Legendary Creature – Turtle Shaman
  • Legendary Creature – Imp
  • Legendary Creature – Faerie Knight
  • Legendary Creature – Rabbit Wizard

As reiterated by Rosewater, previews for Magic: The Gathering: Commander Legends kick off next week, October 22nd, with a full release to follow on November 20th. In case you missed it, see here for a first look at some cards previously revealed through leaks.