MTG: Needs A Little Oil – Top Five Phyrexian Commanders
You’ll want to triple-sleeve your deck if you use one of these five Commanders. They tend to get a little oily.
Welcome Planeswalkers and Praetors to our ongoing series about the best casual experience in Magic: Commander. For the uninitiated, Commander is a semi-casual format for Magic: the Gathering. You use a deck of 100 cards led by a legendary creature, aka, your Commander.
Aside from basic lands, you are only allowed one copy of each card in the deck. Moreover, you can only include cards in your Commander’s “color identity” or artifacts. Each color and color combo has a unique playstyle and a wealth of mighty generals to lead your deck to victory. EDHRec.com is an excellent source for Commander info and can give you ideas to build your next Commander deck or tune an existing one.
The Multiverse of Magic has seen dozens of villains over time: Nicol Bolas, The Eldrazi, and Karona, to name a few. But no threat has been so significant, no enemy so powerful as the Phyrexians. First discovered by the Thran Yawgmoth and then reawakened by the actions of Karn, these flesh and metal creatures have a singular goal: the domination of every sentient plane. If you want to play a villain that steals creatures, creates armies of terrifying living weapons, or drips venom in your opponent’s wounds, these are the Commanders for you.
Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos
Once a great hero of Theros, Brimaz has been completed by the Phyrexian invasion. He now leads the Phyrexian takeover of Theros, and he’s happy to spread the blight. He makes Incubator tokens any time you cast a Phyrexian or artifact spell, which can turn into Phyrexians for just two mana. Should your opponent start killing off your Phyrexians, Brimaz simply repurposes their matter to power your other creatures. If you happen to get Poison tokens on your opponent, killing your creatures is signing their doom.
Atraxa, Praetor’s Voice
It isn’t a Phyrexian list without Atraxa showing up, and there’s a reason for that. Atraxa is a 4/4 for four with a nasty suite of keywords. However, the real reason you want this Phyrexian Angel leading the charge is her proliferate ability. Counters are a big part of the Phyrexian playstyle, from +1/+1 counters to the dreaded poison counters. Atraxa gives you a free buff to all your counters every turn, so having her on the field is a powerful choice. Just be aware: EVERYONE knows how strong she is, so you might get sniped.
Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa
A poor comparison to her sire, Ixhel is still a force to be reckoned with. A 2/5 for four with flying, vigilance, and toxic, she can do a lot of work if left unblocked. However, her primary ability is her corrupted effect. It allows you to steal cards from your opponents that you’ve poisoned, which is a pretty cool ability. Even if you never cast their bombs, at least you’re keeping them out of your opponents’ hands.
Vishgraz, the Doomhive
At first glance, Vishgraz isn’t worth his cost. A 3/3 with menace and toxic for five isn’t a great value, even with the extra Mites he makes. However, once you look closer, you realize how nasty he can be. He gets stronger the more poison counters your opponent has, which in a toxic deck will always be a lot. Without any other buffs, he can crank up to 30 power, which is certainly nothing to shake a stick at.
Omnath, Locus of All
What do you get when you add Phyrexian oil to an ever-growing elemental force? A nasty, world-ending primordial kaiju, for starters. The final form of Omnath, having collected all the mana badges, is a nasty Commander that can store up mana for you between turns, allowing you to unleash massive bombs. Best of all, he can dig out other multi-pip cards like himself, allowing you to tailor your hand to whatever devious ends you need.
What do you think of these Commanders?
