2022: A Commander Year in Review
2022 was a pretty big year for Commander, with releases including 4 Standard sets, 23 Commander precon decks, and a variety of other supplemental products. All told, there were over 2,100 new Magic cards printed and there were also quite a few notable reprints. If you’re anything like us, you probably have a hard time keeping up with everything that comes out with all of the new releases and nearly constant preview season hype.
Now that 2022 has had some time to settle and we’ve had enough time to play with the cards from the final releases of the year, we’re ready to share our favorite cards from 2022. We (Chief, Who Endures and Exxaxl, Progress Tyrant) will recap our selections for each major set released last year. We’ll be excluding small releases such as Secret Lair and Commander Collection: Black, but we’ve covered pretty much everything else. Let’s dive right in!
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Chief: I’m going to have to go with Boseiju, Who Endures, even though this set had a lot to choose from. This is a land with no real downsides and a huge upside of also functioning as an extra piece of targeted removal that can be difficult to interact with using counterspells.
If you don't need the channel ability, it can come into play untapped and produce colored mana. It's easy to see why this card is considered an auto-include in most decks that include green. While all of the lands in this cycle are basically free upsides in decks that can afford to run them, Boseiju is definitely the cream of the crop.
Exxaxl: I’ll admit that Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant wasn’t on my radar upon release. He seemed expensive mana wise to potentially hold off one interaction piece per turn for your opponents. I completely disregarded his first ability because making copies is something blue can already do and just saw him as a mild inconvenience for your opponents.
After playing with it a few times, the free copy you get for the first artifact, instant, or sorcery you cast provides so much impact on the board, especially with some of the newer cards provided later in the year like Portal to Phyrexia, Flow of Knowledge or Cosmic Epiphany. He’s found a permanent home in my God-Eternal Kefnet deck for sure. You don’t mind me drawing 28 cards with a Psychosis Crawler out, right?
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Commander
Chief: This commander is basically a Gundam that can be deployed as a giant beater in vehicle decks or played as a card advantage engine that can hang in higher power tables. I’m surprised that Shorikai, Genesis Engine wasn’t the face commander of the Buckle Up precon deck.
cEDH decks built around Shorikai usually use it to grind out tons of card draw while breaking parity on Humility and other creature hate since the commander usually isn't a creature. Shorikai is one of the coolest commanders that I've seen in years and it might even be the strongest Azorius commander to date.
Exxaxl: Having the flexibility to recycle cards and resources can matter a whole lot, and Ruthless Technomancer is very good at its job. Sacrifice your largest creature that already got its ETB trigger, make a whole bunch of treasures, and then reanimate a creature later to get more ETB triggers. It feels like this card found its way into the format as an immediate staple, especially in combo decks that already relied on cards like Dockside Extortionist or cards like Ashnod’s Altar and Phyrexian Altar.
It wasn’t until we were writing this article that I noticed this card only came out in 2022, because it feels like it’s been here forever already. ‘Ah yes, Ruthless Technomancer, continue’ - it’s become one of those cards you don’t have to explain to enfranchised players when you cast it, because they know what it does and they know it will be meaningful when it resolves.
Streets of New Capenna
Chief: I'm not usually the biggest fan of planeswalkers, but I think that Vivien on the Hunt stands out to me because of how well she lends herself to both toolbox and combo strategies. As soon as I saw this card, I knew that she'd wind up being a hit. It turns out that cards that function like Birthing Pod are both powerful and popular.
While even utilizing her as a way to bring in a value engine or a silver bullet can be quite potent, there's something particularly elegant about fetching Vivien with Arena Rector and then using her ability to pull a win out of your library. You’ll see lines line this a lot in higher power tables, while Vivien may be played more fairly in your average casual game and still seem quite impactful.
Exxaxl: I normally like drain effects quite a bit, but I was kind of underwhelmed by Queza, Augur of Agonies when I first saw her because she targets one opponent at a time instead of each opponent. Fortunately for me, this card shows up a lot in the 99 in my local game store. This means that I got to see her in action often.
After seeing the amount of heavy lifting Queza provides in speeding up the game - because drawing cards is something close to anyone aspires to do - and the total amount of damage you deal across a game, be that deliberate or incidental because someone wheels you while you have Queza out, I grew to like this one a lot.
Streets of New Capenna Commander
Chief: What I like most about Grand Crescendo is that it gives you the flexibility of making a ton of creature tokens while still functioning as a piece of board wipe protection even if you pay 0 into X. This card has become one of my favorite pieces in my Adeline, Resplendent Cathar deck because of how clutch it can be.
Nobody expects you to create a bunch of tokens at instant speed in response to a Blasphemous Act, but you can also protect your board at a very acceptable rate without sinking any extra mana into the spell. It also pairs well with Halo Fountain both mechanically and in flavor, making it easier to achieve the alternate win condition.
Exxaxl: To me, this is like a fixed version of Bag of Holding. Currency Converter has a you may clause, which Bag of Holding lacks - letting you decide whether or not you exile the cards. While Bag of Holding will eventually put the cards back into your hand, Currency Converter has a once per turn tap ability that costs no mana and provides you with blockers or treasure tokens. It’s a nice way to safeguard some of your big reanimation threats.
Having the flexibility to discard a high mana value card you currently can’t cast to draw something better and a few turns later putting that card back in your graveyard from exile at instant speed feels like a great mechanic. It’s not just a discard and draw engine. It’s also a way to guarantee your reanimation targets are in a zone that’s difficult to interact with for your opponents outside of dealing with Currency Converter directly, which some colors can’t do easily.
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Draft
Chief: I’m not even a cat person, but Displacer Kitten is a great example of a card that is already extremely powerful but will only continue to get even better as time goes on. There will always be a stream of permanents in every set that are worth flickering with Displacer Kitten, so we're probably going to see plenty of exciting new tech for this card over time.
Reusing ETB abilities, resetting planeswalkers, and untapping mana rocks with ease while also being able to protect itself makes this card into a powerhouse if your deck is built to exploit it. It often takes cards like this one a little bit of time to really find their place in Commander, so I’m looking forward to seeing more decks built around this card.
Exxaxl: I have to say that Tasha, the Witch Queen ticks all the right boxes for me. Dimir card, can be your commander, draws cards, and steals things from my opponents. I bought this card on release, I just haven’t decided whether I want to make space in the 99 of Umbris, Fear Manifest or whether to brew a dedicated list with her at the helm.
Most EDH games I play nowadays are through our Discord, and keeping track of each opponent’s instant and sorcery that I exile seems like a hassle. It’s doable with dry erase tokens though, I’ve just been postponing this brew to focus on other things.
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Precons
Chief: I expected Deep Gnome Terramancer to be solid but unreliable, but it quickly became apparent that many Commander players are simply too greedy to not include a bunch of cards that enable it in their decks. Green land ramp and fetchlands are commonplace in this format, so it's usually easy to get multiple triggers.
You can also trigger it on your own with spells such as Path to Exile or Winds of Abandon, even though it only gets one land per turn. I’m happy even if Deep Gnome Terramancer only gets a single trigger, but it will almost always punch above its weight by finding multiple lands for you as multicolor decks and green ramp decks are format mainstays.
Exxaxl: I already talked about this a lot in our CLB top 10 article, so I’ll not go too in-depth. Every time that I’ve played Aboleth Spawn, it’s been fun. The biggest hits so far were an Avenger of Zendikar when I was ahead in lands of the player casting it, and a Dockside Extortionist that gave me enough treasure to cast Cyclonic Rift with my opponent’s Dockside trigger still on the stack.
For now it’s in my nightmare and horror deck, though I’m contemplating adding it more frequently. It’s not disappointed me yet. With all of the ETBs out there in Commander right now, this card can put in a lot of work.
Double Masters 2022
Chief: I'd be remiss to choose anything other than Imperial Seal here. As reprints go, this is the biggest one that we've seen in years. Yes, this card is technically a worse version of Vampiric Tutor. In Commander, that's still really good in a singleton format.
Here's hoping that we can expect significantly less time in between reprints in the future. I'd also really like to see other chase cards from Portal Three Kingdoms show up as reprints in future sets, because many of them command insane prices right now.
Exxaxl: ‘If a thing would happen, that thing happens twice instead’. If you’ve played Commander games with me before, you will have seen this or other similar cards get played.
I was happy to see a non-Kaladesh art printing of Panharmonicon. I will say that the alternate art borderless Sedris, the Traitor King was second in line for its killer artwork by Ian Miller.
Dominaria United
Chief: This set was full of great cards, but Serra Paragon rises above the rest. White has been getting a lot more graveyard recursion over the last few years, but casting spells and playing lands out of the graveyard is a pretty new direction. I hope to see more white cards like this moving forward.
The most interesting thing about this card is the fact that the exile happens as a triggered ability. This means that you can respond to the triggers by recasting a spell with flash if it's your turn or casting instants like Brought Back to grab those permanents back to the battlefield.
Exxaxl: Talk about a card that’s made an impact across several formats. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse been around for less than a year and already it feels like it’s going to need several reprints to stabilize the aftermarket price.
This slots into so many decks looking to turn card draw into a bigger advantage for yourself - or punishment for your opponents. I don’t think Sheoldred is going anywhere and we’ll be seeing this one for a long while in EDH. Gix failed, Sheoldred shall not.
Dominaria United Commander
Chief: While I initially slept on this commander, I changed my mind after seeing her in action. Dihada, Binder of Wills enables a lot of powerful gameplay that fits really neatly into her colors. There are so many great legendary permanents, graveyard synergies, and treasure payoffs in Mardu colors.
If left to her own devices, she can quickly take over the game. If your opponents try to take her out with combat, you can even flash in a Vexilus Praetor to protect her. Her -11 ability is also a contender for the most decisive game-ender on any planeswalker commander.
Exxaxl: I’d describe The Peregrine Dynamo as a lite version of Strionic Resonator on a colorless body. While it’s true it’s limited to legendary sources, in a format like Commander, you shouldn’t have any issues finding legal targets for The Peregrine Dynamo to copy.
It can copy planeswalker activations, strong value engines such as Jodah, the Unifier and Ratadabrik of Urborg, or card advantage like The Great Henge and Bident of Thassa. The only other restriction is that you can’t copy abilities from your commander. Do copy that floppy.
Unfinity
Chief: While I'm not the biggest fan of Unfinity, Starlight Spectacular wound up being one of my favorite cards of the year. There's usually a lot of math involved, but it's actually extremely difficult to not finish off your opponents if you have an established board state with a bunch of tokens and other small creatures.
The coolest thing about Starlight Spectacular is that you don't need to attack with all of your creatures in order to get the buffs. This means that creatures who are summoning sick can still take part in the parade.
Exxaxl: ‘I sawed this boat Gray Merchant of Asphodel in half’! I’m very aware that most of my favorite cards of 2022 have to do with getting something you have more than once - be those triggers or permanents. I’ve mentioned in a few articles already that I enjoy playing around with the ‘one of each card except for basic lands’ rule through clone or copy effects.
Saw in Half was the only card from Unfinity that I bought and it’s found a permanent spot in my Araumi of the Dead Tide deck. Expect a new, up-to-date deck tech on Araumi of the Dead Tide soon for the two-year anniversary of us writing articles, by the way.
Warhammer 40,000 Commander
Chief: I love the combat step, so I always enjoy creatures that allow me to take even more combat steps. Bloodthirster is primed and ready to punch all of your opponents each turn, but you can also pair it with copy effects or something like Sword of Hearth and Home and a haste enabler in order to easily end games.
I'm a big fan of the way that this creature interacts with Xenagos, God of Revels, even though I've often been on the receiving end of this treatment in my in-person playgroup. Hopefully it will eventually see a reprint outside of this Commander deck, because this card is already an in-demand single.
Exxaxl: A little math will tell you that Out of the Tombs can mill you out within 9 turns, after which it starts reanimating creatures from your graveyard. 2+4+6+8+10+12+14+16+18 = 90, and this probably won't be the only source of mill in your deck if that’s your strategy.
This card to me feels like a Mesmeric Orb, but for me alone, meaning I can’t accidentally accelerate my opponents if they’re also relying on mill or graveyard recursion strategies. I’ve not lost the game with it yet, I know it’s just a matter of time before someone exiles my graveyard at instant speed with its reanimation trigger on the stack.
The Brothers’ War
Chief: This versatile white removal spell operates on a similar axis to blue bounce spells, but it has added benefits that really make it stand out from the crowd. If you remove something with Soul Partition, your opponent must pay the tax in order to cast it again from exile.
This also means that a card like Drannith Magistrate or Soulless Jailer could stop them from casting it at all. Since the tax only hits your opponents, you can also use this spell to protect your permanents from removal or as a way to recast ETB creatures.
Exxaxl: A bear for you and me and everyone! Green was in need of a decent artifact and enchantment sweeper outside of Bane of Progress. Fade from History gives you just that, with a very minimal downside.
Your opponents shouldn’t get mad if you cast this spell, right? You just gave them a cute bear! I’m just a little sad the bear tokens in The Brothers’ War were not small bear cubs like the one depicted in the top left of this card's art.
The Brothers’ War Commander
Chief: I was initially underwhelmed by Scholar of New Horizons, but I've since seen it pull off some interesting things. You can use it with Urza's Saga and ton of other permanents to put lands in your hand or even ramp if another player has more lands than you.
With the prevalence of green ramp and the ease of putting +1/+1 counters on creatures in white, it's very easy to meet the conditions to use the ability to its full potential. This is one of those cards that is likely to continue to get support in future sets, so I'll be waiting to see if you can use it to break anything.
Exxaxl: This one was not easy for me, because a lot of cool new artifacts got printed in these precons. In the end, I went with Scavenged Brawler. I’m still not 100% sure, but this card has impressed me enough to be the card to appear on this list.
This creature has relevant enough keywords to be hard cast, and graveyard synergy to turn any creature on your board into a way more lethal threat than it already was - Kathril players rejoice! Machine God’s Effigy came in a close second.
Jumpstart 2022
Chief: If you're playing a +1/+1 counters deck that includes green, you're probably already playing Hardened Scales. You'd probably also enjoy a second copy of that effect on a creature. Benevolent Hydra will allow you to do just that.
The fact that this is a hydra also allows you to easily slot it into your hydras deck to buff up all of those X cost hydra spells! I think that my favorite thing about Benevolent Hydra—aside from the adorable art—is that its base statline is 1/1, meaning you aren't obligated to spend mana into the X cost if you just want the Hardened Scales effect.
Exxaxl: This is by no means the strongest card from Jumpstart 2022, but to me this was the most fun one. While I don’t play red decks often, I lean into its punishment effects when I do. Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence is exactly the type of commander that I enjoy when I’m playing mono-red.
You’ll get so many incidental +1/+1 counters if you’re already running cards like Manabarbs or Roiling Vortex. Force your opponents to pick a higher number on Wheel of Misfortune unless they want to take lethal commander damage from Auntie Blyte. I’m still hopeful we’ll get to see a white ‘Good Influence’ counterpart of this card in a future Jumpstart set.
Okay, I think we made it to the end. Those were our favorite cards from each major Magic release in 2022. There were plenty of other great cards as well, but we couldn’t possibly list them all. If you think that we missed any and want to let us know, we’d love to hear your favorites over on Twitter! If you’d like to check out more PlayEDH content, you can find more articles here or tune into the PlayEDH Radio 903.1 podcast here.
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