Plus Sylvan Library is only missing from most decks because it’s so hard to find.Ĭounting the cheapest printing of each card (excluding Sol Ring and Command Tower because everyone has them), here’s the value of each Commander Collection if you were to buy it piece by piece: Sure, a lot of these green cards aren’t necessarily the most played, but they can slot into almost any green deck and serve a great purpose. Wizards really decided to just pick some random black cards and slap a fresh coat of paint on them instead of truly looking at what cards are iconic and playable in the color. It’s hard to really compare the two because of how good the Green collection is compared to how underwhelming the Black version is. Commander Collection: Black, on the other hand, has… well, it sure has some cards in it. Commander Collection: Green comes with some great cards that desperately needed reprints and are staples of the color (with Sylvan Library and Worldly Tutor being two stellar cards in any green deck). I feel like Commander Collections are a bit of a hit or miss so far. Liliana, Heretical Healer / Liliana, Defiant NecromancerĪre Commander Collections Worth It? Which Is the Best Value?.
While most of these cards lack reprints, they aren’t exactly staples and you don’t see them at the table a lot, aside from Reanimate and the occasional Phyrexian Arena.
The second entry into the series hasn’t hit the shelves yet Commander Collection: Black is slated to come out on January 28, 2022.įeaturing a handful of cards that aren’t really iconic or staples in Commander, this collection features cards that revolve mostly around the dominant idea of the color: sacrificing resources for power. While the only real “fatty” is Omnath, Locus of Mana (and that’s a stretch as a 3-mana 1/1), powerful cards like Worldly Tutor and Sylvan Library make this an essential set of cards that can fit into a lot of decks. The first Commander Collection to hit the shelves, this one forgoes the idea that green is all about fat creatures and ramp spells and offers some of the more unique cards in the color. List of Commander Collections Commander Collection: Green (2020) Each Commander Collection comes in a non-foil and a premium foil variant, with only WPN stores selling the foil variants. The first (Green) was released in late 2020 and the second (Black) will be available in early 2022. There are currently two Commander Collections.
Ophiomancer | Illustration by Caroline Gariba Keeping playable cards readily available means that all players have similar access to the same cards and nobody gets left out. The average player probably isn’t willing to shell out $4,000 to $5,000 for a Legacy deck, let alone enough players in a community to foster a healthy playgroup. It’s hard to get important staples like dual lands when the Reserved List still exists. One of the biggest reasons why formats like Legacy and Vintage have fallen to the wayside is availability and price. Reprinting popular and important cards is essential to keeping formats accessible. Keeping important, heavily-played cards easily accessible is key to keeping a format healthy and growing. They also draw in new players because they can come into the format at a similar power level to other players without needing to shell out big bucks. Gavin Verhey covered the biggest reason why products like this are sorely needed: reprints. What’s the Purpose of Commander Collections? A careful eye can spot all of the references to other iconic characters in Magic’s lore as well as flavor text to bring you back into the beautiful world that’s been so carefully crafted over the last 25-odd years. The new art and flavor text is a huge plus to these sets since it’s usually filled with references to legendary creatures and bits of lore that really shine for the Vorthos nerds like me. They also feature brand new art and come in foil and non-foil versions. The cards are centered around the Commander format, aimed for multiplayer play with common cards played in the format as well as iconic cards from the Collection’s color. It’s a collection of 6 reprinted cards focused around one specific color plus a copy of Command Tower and Sol Ring with art themed to the color. The Commander Collection is a series of products similar to the Signature Spellbooks. Worldly Tutor | Illustration by Cristi Balanescu