The Best Commander Cards of 2024

[@moderneaux]

Take notice. Most of these cards are from Karlov Manor, which is the set that everyone thinks it's the worst of the year

[@totakekeslider3835]

Surveil lands too, which I put as literally the second best cycle in the game after fetches. I'll even take them over shocks or triomes, and in the early game, 99/100 times these are what I'm fetching for. The consistency to look for your next land drop/non-land card or put something in the yard is just so, so good.

[@7maGic094]

Just because a set has a few good cards, it doesn't save it from being a bad set altogether. They took an iconic plane that has themes of guildship and them working together, and made about one murder in the one guild that doesn't care about murder. But hey. You got a couple of powercrept cards, so it all pans out, right?

[@qwormuli77]

​@7maGic094To be fair, a solid third of the guilds have murder as a center of their operation. Which makes the horrid theme party excuse of a setting even worse. They only wanted to dress the characters in cute detective hats and made an entire set around it.

[@lVideoWatcherl]

I believe people did take notice. The point is that a set that is badly themed is a worse detriment to peoples' feelings towards a set than power spikes are a benefit.

[@benjaminking3677]

It was the worst of the year. Not powerwise, but because we are all sick and tired of going to ravnica

[@paulszki]

For me, "Arena of Glory" was one of the most impactful cards. Haste is so important in commander. Having it basically be free on on a land without having to spend extra mana on that turn is just powerful. Just like the other MH3 lands it's almost a free include in 2 color decks and even if you can't guarantee mountains at all times, it's STILL way better than all the other haste options we've had on lands until now (Hall of the Bandit Lord, Flamekin village etc.)

[@mikeharkness6571]

Totally agree!! I hummed and hawed about buying a copy when it was $6 cuz I like to play pretty budget but now I can't find a copy below $15 😭😭

[@paulszki]

@@mikeharkness6571 I opened a box of mh3 (I don't just open booster boxes every set but felt like I wanted to for modern horizons and really didn't regret it because it's all playables all the time.) Opened one Arena of Glory and was like "yeah, I'm gonna need more" and bought a complete playset and two more in the extra treatment for a total of 7 copies. 💀But I bought them, when they were still like a a bit below 2€ each because I knew in my heart taht these MUST go up and I'd basically use them in any deck that had red in it.

[@jonr9518]

I put it in my Dargo deck, it's so good

[@dbballer91]

Picked it in a draft, it was very clutch

[@jayjayhooksch1]

Surprised to not see Amphibian Downpour on the list. For me its number 1 or 2 next to Sink into Stupor. Both cards went into 95% of my decks that could run them.

[@HollowdTV]

Fanatic of Rhonas is a wild acceleration card that I think gets overlooked. I rarely see anyone playing it and boy does it make big mana on like turn 3-4, it literally takes you from 2 mana on turn 2, to 8 mana on turn 4 if you get a 4 power on the board. And it meets its own threshold if you eternalize it! Best token deck cards of the year: Caretakers Talent is busted Agate instigator in literally any tokens deck that’s in red is busted Dollmakers Shop//Porcelain Gallery is a white Craterhoof and it earns its payoff with the cheap side starting on turn 1 or 2. Highly recommend it.

[@o-mega7515]

fanatic of rhonas is ridiculous

[@gmfreeman4211]

Last night someone cast Doomsday Excruciator on turn 4 with a K'rrik deck. One of the strangest yet entertaining games I have ever played. It completely changes everything. I had a Esper Sentinel out, so I had no chance of winning, and this was one instance where I did not feel bad playing kingmaker. I used Kenrith, the Returned King and Ertai Resurrected to force a few draws. At least the game didn't run long.

[@senescentfear1000]

God doomsday demon is a lot of fun, I have a demon tribal deck that has it, and during a local commander tournament i played it into a cedh pod that had kinnan. The kinnan had flipped into a jin gitaxias core auger, and i managed to get the doomsday demon through, and of course he imediately decked himself off the draw 7 trigger.

[@skeetermaverick1793]

I'm running Doomsday excruciator with Rev, tithe extractor... I play it then i attack all 3 opponents and take their top card leaving them all with less cards in deck then me... its super risky but super fun!

[@pretty_fly_for_a_jeskai]

I think a card I'm a little surprised to not see here is Split Up. I think it's very passable in a board wipe slot for any deck that can run it, and is absolutely fantastic when built around generally. I don't think protections from targeted removal are going anywhere, and commander by nature is just a place where board wipes are better. I would so much rather see design spaces of wipes in the 3-4 mana range that are potential build arounds that give players a meaningful choice that will be determined by dynamic game states, proactive board wipes that will speed games up when they're resolved with intent, rather than inevitably slow them down. Far and away one of my favorite cards this year. I think they should never print anything like Cyclonic Rift or Farewell again, let those exist, and print more stuff like Split Up.

[@SaltyProductionsHD]

Haven’t watched yet but I’m going to guess 3 cards that are in the top 5 (excluding Nadu): Fanatic of Rhonas Sink into Stupor Trouble in Pairs Edit: 2 out of 3, heck yeah!

[@lobocastillo7228]

My favorite cards this year are Wolverine, Best There Is, Bristly Bill, and Scythecat Cub.

[@erichunt1974]

I am having a lot of fun with Kreat the Boltbreaker as an additional piece in my Krenko, Mob Boss deck.

[@uhmatcha1167]

I love krenko mob BOSS, hell yeah

[@conerchambers1214]

Ended up winning a game with Queza and Spymaster’s Vault. An opponent was playing Kykar artifacts and was getting swung at for lethal by another opponent who was at 8 life. Kykar player blocked all the attacking creatures and then sac’d the spirits. After the last spirit died, activated the vault and drew enough cards to trigger Queza and kill both players

[@o-mega7515]

I run doomsday excruciator in my Kaalia of the Vast deck. Since Kaalia can slam demons onto the field for free and they technically aren't cast, the cast trigger on excruciator doesn't go off and I don't have to play around it. I get a 6/6 and another card draw on my upkeep for free. It's maybe not the best/most exciting application of the card but hey it's kinda neat

[@mn6334]

Struggle for Project Purity from Fallout was my #1 enchantment of the year. Draws a ton of cards.

[@somekindadragon3414]

I no longer play Arena or Standard, and was on a period of enforced austerity that I recently lifted temporarily, and i know JACK ALL about hardly any cards from 2024. I appreciate things like this, so thank you Nerds.

[@robertfranklin8522]

Loved "Pick Your Poisin" in MKM draft when my opponent would start turn one with a artifact land on the battlefield and I'd stare at PYP and think to myself "what a nice one mana Stone Rain/Time Walk this is." That happened with surprising frequency.

[@henlohenlo689]

yeah bristly bill spine sower sounds pretty dope. in some decks you can use his ability twice in 1 turn to quadruple the counters. then on each turn do that. so he and others can become enormous size. also imagine him with walking ballista, and steelbane hydra.

[@JeffreyGoddin]

Brotherhood regalia. Also, new player, opened a Jumpstart with the Ballista, built a deck around it for fun, and had a turn 3 casual commander win with it last week with Forensic Gadgeteer as my draw that turn, the mana rock tutor on turn 2 with sol ring to get the monolith, had Ballista in the opening. Wow.

[@worstever6]

My relatively new build Ancient One deck runs Doomsday Excruciator and it's won the game every time it's been cast.

[@phillipranson3413]

I added a populate angle to my Zinnia deck and populating Agate Instigator after making its offspring token is wild

[@nescaffier1524]

Can you make an episode about your commander cube?

[@oldmandave304]

I would love to see a list of budget commander staples for each color

[@masticore252]

28:25 don't forget Pile On from March of the Machine, its not as good as Lethal Scheme but it's up there

[@bostrandin8460]

I think Glaring Fleshraker deserves a shout out. It only goes in colorless but its nonsense in that deck. Impact tremors plus make mana on all your spell and i works with itself. Also a good combo pieces.

[@bobhouses2036]

Urzas cave is also a cave and there's a good amount of synergy for that. There's scampering surveyor that's just solemn simulacrum but can get caves

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

Bristly bill makes the mossborn hydra a kill on sight creature. Also: scythe cub

[@Veggie_Dogg]

Bridgeworks battle literally won me my last commander game. The MH3 MDFC are soooooo good.

[@MichelleNghi]

I like ancient tomb available for everyone at its budget price 😁😁😊

[@sweetjohn3340]

Does any other color match 3 mana for an unconditional draw 3? Insatiable avarice looks great, although the number of black pips is a big deal

[@jasondeberry3353]

Staples is coming for you with that "Wow, that was easy"

[@riverswater5688]

Would aven stop the cascade trigger? Maelstrom says when you “cast” this card, so even if you interact with it, you still get to Cascade because you’re casting it, no?

[@mn6334]

Spells that are cascaded into would cost 2 mana to cast

[@obadijahparks]

Insatiable averice is a great card with sheoldred! Boom!

[@aaronwindham6065]

I personally, disagree with the surveil lands are worse than the verge lands. They're both fantastic right, but without that land type, they are not as good. If I am in a green deck, I can nature's lore, three visits, far seek, anything with a force subtype. Not being able to do that with the verge lands is a big negative. And yes they do come into play tapped, but it's unlikely you'd run five, and getting them early game fantastic for setting up your draws, and making sure you're not screwed on mana, late game exact opposite get rid of the mana

[@lCaptainCanaryl]

I understand Roxanne not being in the list. I see her in the Thumbnail, though. She's just good. gives a rock when she comes down, doinks a dork as it does, then doubles your treasures. that's a great-ass card. I understand a lotta people don't like gruul, but c'mon! the ability's just great.

[@MonoxideTF2]

She just never makes the cut for me

[@gerouw]

i think i like them both mostly cause they like cat :)

[@ChrisLovesYahweh]

Zimone Mystery Unraveler for sure, she's a one sided show and tell 💙💚💙

[@JetNAmplify]

Guessing sink into stupor. And trouble in pairs

[@Phe0nix1986]

Jack Bauer approved?!! Hell. Yes.

[@devan9197]

surveil lands are better than verges

[@pretty_fly_for_a_jeskai]

Yeah, I think that order is a mistep. Being said tho, I think verges are a MUCH more interesting design space.

[@NTP0112]

My favorite lands for sure. Just playing casual edh and sometimes. if you don’t need fast mana, fetching these lands are so so satisfying

[@totakekeslider3835]

@@pretty_fly_for_a_jeskai Are they, though? They're just better check lands. Pretty boring.

[@doktarr]

I completely disagree that they should stop printing awesome MDFC lands. Instead, they should print *more*. Make it so I can choose between different ones for the last ~10 lands in my deck, so I can pick the ones that fit my deck. This isn't hurting deck diversity, unless you consider having multiple forests to be "diverse". It solves the biggest design flaw of the entire game of magic the gathering, which is getting mana screwed/flooded. None of the many, many MTG clones have copied the land system, and it's for a reason. tldr; useful MDFC lands is the absolute best form of power creep in the game. I want more.

[@Arctanis-vt3hl]

Only if they come in untapped. The tapped ones are all lame. You get the worst of both worlds - a lame overcosted spell and a tapped land. You're better off just running a basic.

[@doktarr]

@@Arctanis-vt3hl well, a few like Malakir Rebirth are good enough to include even as tapped lands. But sure, I'm good with them all being bolt lands on the back.

[@sickomobamba9619]

Valley floodcaller?

[@teeemm2644]

Birthing ritual carried me through limited. Also, am I the only one that thinks Landfall is boring slop?

[@luckylucinde3817]

Blasphemous edict + blood artist... Big bada boom 💥

[@devincharlvanvuuren6194]

Ashling, flame dancer💪

[@TheDepolarization]

I can never play TIP…the art issue is too much. It desperately needs a reprint with new art.

[@thriftypsgr]

Nadu was amazing and broken

[@pretty_fly_for_a_jeskai]

@@thriftypsgr not even worth talking about an unplayable card in any official setting

[@thriftypsgr]

@ agreed but the card was awesome

[@CTimmerman]

No wonder Stifle is 7+ euro.

[@shawnbroderick7544]

Maha was the unfun leader of the year.

[@327Federal]

Valgavoth has to be #1

[@paulszki]

Why?

[@327Federal]

@ oppressive and crazy strong

[@L_Zant]

That's one of the cards of all time that's for sure lol

[@paulszki]

@@327Federal Yeah it's 9 mana, it better be. That's eldrazi territory and we got some great eldrazi this year as well. Like, it's not bad at all. I'll gladly reanimate it or jam it in some rampy golgari cabal coffers deck... but at the end of the day... it's still "just" an expensive dude that does strong stuff.

[@jayjayhooksch1]

Valgavoth not even top 100. 9 mana win the game spells are a dime a dozen.

[@DigitalinDaniel]

Too bad Trouble in Pairs was art theft, I will have to wait till they reprint it.

[@villageflippinidiot]

Stinky gremlin?

[@HollowdTV]

The cat. He was calling his cat a stinky gremlin.

[@lostmana]

Holy muffled audio batman.

[@HollowdTV]

??? Fix your headset. The audio was fine.

[@lostmana]

@@HollowdTV ??? No it isn't, listen to any other video, lol, get this man some chapstick.

[@Darkscotty76]

Three tree city doesn't go in dragon kindred. I could be wrong but if you have 4 dragons the game should basically be over

[@decktechsandspecs]

Hi Amber!

[@bluelink44]

Dude the pronouns 😂

[@entertainmentinc9735]

I hate the “I want to win the game for 7 mana”. People should play more casual cards

[@pathkeepers]

I can finally resubscribe now that THEY are gone

[@elliecccg7791]

she/purr