MTG: Step Into My Parlor – Top Five Spider Commanders
Don’t worry that you can’t find that spider in the corner of your shower anymore; it just scuttled over to your local MTG table for some EDH.
Welcome Planeswalkers and Praetors to our ongoing series about the best casual experience in Magic: Commander.
Spiders are not everyone’s cup of tea. Whether it’s the legs, the eyes, or the pincers, there’s something unsettling about these little creatures. Magic, of course, likes to crank that all the way up, giving us massive and deadly Spiders that could even have US on the menu. But you know how the old saying goes: if they don’t eat you, join’em!
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, 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 on how to build your next Commander deck or tune an existing one.
Shelob, Child of Ungoliant
Starting off the list strong, we have the deadly guardian of Cirith Ungol. Shelob very nearly ended Frodo’s quest to destroy the Ring, and on the battlefield, she’s just as nasty. She’s an 8/8 with deathtouch and ward 2 for six, and she dishes out the same keywords to all your other Spiders. This turns your entire army into evasive, deadly monsters. However, it’s her follow-up ability that makes her the queen.
If a creature dealt damage by one of your Spiders dies (which, with deathtouch, it will), you get a token copy of that creature. However, that token ISN’T a creature; it’s a Food token. You get all the creature’s abilities, but none of the fragility of a creature. Even better, in a pinch, you can pitch that creature for a bit of life. Put this on a self-weakening target like Devoted Druid and you’ll have a nasty little morsel.
Ishkanah, Grafwidow
As scary as one Spider is, a big horde of them is even worse. Ishkanah capitalizes on that, giving you a horde of Spiders when she hits the field and then punishing your opponent with them. When she hits the field, as long as there are four or more card types (creature, artifact, etc.) in your graveyard, she gives you a small blood of Spider tokens. Then, for the slightly steep price of seven mana, one of your opponents loses life equal to the number of Spiders you control. If you have a way to turn your creatures into Spiders, or a way to double up on tokens, you can take out your opponents without attacking once.
Thantis, the Warweaver
Spiders aren’t the first critters I think of when I think “aggression and war”, but Thantis is here to shake that up. She’s a 5/5 with vigilance and reach that makes every creature attack every turn. Whenever YOU are attacked, Thantis gets bigger, able to dish out even more pain. Just make sure you have a wall to protect yourself from the clapback.
Arasta of the Endless Web
Most Spiders are patient, waiting to capture their prey until they’ve already trapped themselves. Arasta is just such a Spider. She doesn’t create Spider tokens on her own, rather letting your opponent fill your army by casting instant and sorcery spells. If you’re playing into Izzet, you could have an army of crawlers to blanket the ground in no time.
Izoni, Center of the Web
Not a Spider herself, Izoni still has a lot of Spider-like tendencies. Able to generate Spiders based on how much she can pitch from her graveyard, she can give you an army, life gain, or card advantage, whatever you may need at the time.
What do you think of these Commanders?
