Commander Awards 2024
Howdy! 2024 is drawing to a close and it’s been an absolutely huge year for Commander. Before we officially ring in the new year, I wanted to take some time to highlight some of the best new cards of 2024 for the Commander format. Of course, this is just for fun and nothing to take seriously. We haven’t got much time left in 2024, so let’s get started!
Author’s note: This article is focused on casual Commander, but there are still a few great cards here for cEDH enthusiasts.
Most Likely to Get Banned
Nadu, Winged Wisdom was part of a controversial ban announcement this year and is the only card from 2024 to see a ban in Commander. Nadu is a great example of a commander that seems ideal for cEDH, but my experiences with him in casual EDH tables have never left me feeling like his existence was a net positive for the format. I’ve heard a lot of tales about Simic commanders running rampant, but Nadu is the rare example that perhaps pushed the envelope a little bit too much.
Best New Utility Creature
The most obvious choice for this award is the creature than can be anything. Mockingbird is at its best when there are cheap creatures on the battlefield that have powerful abilities. In 2024, it seems like there are more of those than ever. It also doesn’t feel too bad to pay a little bit more to get a copy of something else, such as an opponent’s commander or that Craterhoof Behemoth that failed to take you out of the game. I hope that we’ll keep seeing more innovative Clone effects like this one.
Best New Aggro Creature
The hardest part about playing aggro in Commander is dealing enough damage to finish off all of your opponents. This means that you usually need to find ways to speed up the clock. Twinflame Tyrant not only offers you a means to double your damage output, but it also features a relevant creature type that makes it an attractive option for Dragon decks. I’ve seen this card do disgusting things with other Dragons such Terror of the Peaks, Astral Dragon, and Miirym Sentinel Wyrm.
Best New Ramp
While it’s no Primordial Titan, Overlord of the Hauntwoods is a really interesting new card because it creates Everywhere land tokens that can tap for any color of mana. The impeding cost offers a way to get some mana-fixing early if you don’t mind waiting until later to be able to use it as a creature, but the average Commander deck including green won’t have any trouble casting this spell during the early game with help from mana dorks to generate some serious value.
Best New Card Draw
I can hardly believe that I’m putting a white card in this spot. Trouble in Pairs received plenty of attention this year due to the controversy around its artwork, but the impact of this enchantment on Commander games where it shows up shouldn’t be overlooked. With three different ways to trigger its ability, it will almost always draw you multiple cards per turn cycle because it becomes incredibly difficult to play around it without falling behind. Here’s hoping that we get a reprint with new artwork very soon.
Best New Combo Piece
Check out that flavor text. In addition to making a direct reference to Exquisite Blood, Bloodthirsty Conqueror is the first new card to offer the same effect. This means that you have another combo piece to go along with Sanguine Bond or Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose to drain out your opponents. I can also see Vampire decks such as Edgar Markov using Bloodthirsty Conqueror to help stabilize life totals against aggro while speeding up the clock for opponents. This is such a cool card.
Best New Kindred Support
Three Tree City speaks for itself. This new land can be played in any deck, offering kindred strategies a way to create tons of mana in exchange for amassing a large number of their chosen creature type. I’ve found it to be incredibly powerful in my Humans deck—especially when I can find it on demand with Weathered Wayfarer—but it can work in any deck that’s focused on a specific creature type. It feels pretty good to have a big mana tool for strategies that typically want to develop a large board presence.
Best New Board Wipe
White has a lot of great board wipes, but they’re usually restricted to sorcery speed. Final Showdown is a real game-changer because it can be cast at instant speed in response to a lethal alpha strike or any other hairy situation. It even provides you the means to get around things such as indestructible that would normally keep it from being effective while allowing you to save your commander or another important creature through the use of the spree mechanic. Incredible versatility.
Best New Removal
Withering Torment is another new card in black’s arsenal that allows it to deal with troublesome enchantments like Rest in Peace while also being a perfectly serviceable creature removal spell. Plenty of people have been up in arms about black enchantment removal going back to when Feed the Swarm first made its debut, but I’m all for it as long as it doesn’t rival the efficiency of white and green enchantment removal and remains the distant third that it currently is right now.
Best New Interaction
Red interaction has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, and Flare of Duplication is one of the best examples of what the color can do nowadays. Red almost always has a disposable creature around to sacrifice, so you’ll rarely have to pay mana for this incredible versatile effect. The real winner with Flare of Duplication would be partner decks that feature Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh in the command zone because they’ll almost always have access to this card for zero mana.
Best New Protection
Flare of Fortitude does almost everything. With one card, you can your permanents by making them hexproof and indestructible and lock in your life total for the rest of the turn. This makes it effective against board wipes, targeted removal, damage (outside of infect and commander damage), and cards such as Torment of Hailfire. This seems pretty reasonably for four mana, but you can also sacrifice a nontoken white creature to cast it for free. Flare of Fortitude feels almost like the ultimate protection spell.
Best New Hate Card
Vexing Bauble is one of my favorite cards in recent years. There are so many ways to cast spells for free in Commander that it can become overwhelming if you aren’t properly prepared to answer them. This card has become a staple in cEDH for good reason, but some casual EDH decks can also benefit from having ways to deal with cascade or free counterspells such as Fierce Guardianship. Being able to sacrifice it to draw a card when you don’t need it for anything else also adds to its utility.
Best New Utility Land
If you can afford to play a few colorless lands, there’s almost no reason not to include Talon Gates of Madara in your land base. Phasing out a creature when it enters the battlefield allows you to temporarily deal with a problem creature or protect one of your own. While it doesn’t feel terrible to do this by playing it as a land on your turn, the real value comes from the ability to spend mana to put it onto the battlefield during an opponent’s turn. Better luck next time, Grand Abolisher!
Least Friendly New Card
Screaming Nemesis is an interesting card because it acts as a hard counter to life gain strategies, but it does feel a little mean in casual EDH because the effect persists even if it gets removed or if the player who controls it leaves the game. This would feel like less of a quandary if it wasn’t possible to cast it, swing right away into blockers, and shoot the damage at any player to permanently turn off their ability to gain life. I don’t think that it should be banned, but I’m not a fan of this type of collusion in casual EDH.
Best New Commander
I hate mechanically exclusive Secret Lair drops more than anyone, especially now that Wizards of the Coast has returned to the limited release model rather than printing them to demand. Storm, Force of Nature is my favorite commander of 2024 in spite of these issues, which is a testament to her novel card design. You can pull off some very cool things by adding storm onto already powerful instant and sorcery spells, which makes Storm a unique and very powerful commander.
Bonus: Best Reprints of 2024
2024 had several exciting reprints on offer, but these two stand out to me the most. Mindbreak Trap is a powerful piece of interaction originally printed in 2009 that sees a ton of play in cEDH, so the reprint in the Breaking News slot in Outlaws at Thunder Junction was a welcome surprise. While mass land destruction isn’t everyone’s cup of tea in Commander, Ravages of War costing hundreds of dollars makes absolutely no sense when it’s functionally identical to Armageddon.
As you can see, 2024 was quite a year for Commander. I look forward to playing more Commander games in the new year and I hope that we get plenty of new and exciting cards. I hope that you’ve enjoyed 2024 as much as I have. Happy New Year!
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