Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander Cards We Can't Wait To Play
Phyrexia: All Will Be One (ONE) is upon us! This set brings us back to New Phyrexia, a fan-favorite setting. This is a world of H.R. Giger monsters. Phyrexia features beloved characters, designs, and a long-destroyed world. Today let's take a look at some of the cards I cannot wait to play with from this set with an EDH perspective!
Phyrexia: All Will Be One EDH Cards - White
White has been adding to its repertoire of incremental advantages in recent years. Cards like Smothering Tithe and Monolog Tax have proven great contenders in Commander. The two cards I would like to discuss today for white fit that bill in spades.
First up, Norn's Wellspring. This lets us scry and put an oil counter on the wellspring every time a creature you control dies. This slides into aristocrats strategies. It also pairs well with Blood Artist effects. But its effect is suitable for a host of decks.
Many mono-white decks are very creature heavy. Norn's Wellspring can pull its weight in these combat-heavy decks. It allows us to scry many cards per turn. All this talk of scry and we haven't got to the best part! For one mana and tapping the Wellspring, we can remove an oil counter and draw two cards! This feels like a low barrier to entry for drawing cards. Every two deaths will give us two replacement cards. Furthermore, thanks to the scry we can set up our turns to ensure we keep drawing into creatures.
The second white card we're focusing on is Skrelv's Hive. This card synergizes well with Norn's Wellspring as well as standing on its own as a great card. It's very reminiscent of Bitterblossom. For two mana you get an enchantment that makes you lose a life and create a 1/1 Phyrexian Mite creature token with toxic 1 and "This creature can't block."
Also if an opponent has three or more poison counters all your creatures with toxic have lifelink. That is a lot of text! This card can put pressure on the opponent's life total and stabilize your own. Even at one Mite per turn, the Hive can get opponents worried for their life.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One EDH Cards - Blue
Blue brings with it two fantastic plays on existing effects. First up there's Blade of Shared Souls. This three-mana equipment comes in with a 2/2 rebel token attached to it thanks to the new mechanic For Mirrodin!
Whenever the Blade becomes attached to a creature the equipped creature becomes a copy of another target creature you control. The little 2/2 that comes for free with the Blade could be far more powerful. What I love about this version of a clone effect is it is repeatable. Any time you equip this blade you could be copying a powerful creature and its abilities. This effect is more powerful with cards such as Magnetic Theft to catch opponents off guard.
Encroaching Mycosynth is another staple effect coming out of ONE. For four mana all non-land permanents you own and control in all zones are artifacts. This is a rift on Mycosynth Lattice. A six-mana spell that turns everything everyone owns into artifacts. Lattice is often used to form combos around destroying your opponent's permanents. Encroaching Mycosynth cannot do that. It does still enable a lot of powerful shenanigans at a lower cost. Many of the usual tricks that benefit you around Mycosynth Lattice apply here. This is a no-brainer in artifact decks such as Arcum Dagsson
Phyrexia: All Will Be One EDH Cards - Black
Sheoldred's Edict is a message that Commander design is being considered in Standard. Sheoldred's Edict is flexible and impacts each opponent. This diversity at instant speed is powerful. It won't be an auto-include but it is worth considering. This is one of the better edict effects out there.
Moving onto something more flashy! Vraska, Betrayal's String is one of the set's compleated planeswalkers. Vraska reminds me a lot of Ob Nixilis Reignited. You get to draw a card, remove a threat, and get a flashy ultimate that puts lots of pressure on the opponent. Vraska stands as a great piece on her own, in a counters deck, and of course in a Superfriends deck. Garruk, Cursed Huntsman comes to mind as a fantastic pairing with Vraska.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One EDH Cards - Red
Capricious Hellraiser looks like a lot of fun. At six mana you get a 4/4 with flying, but it costs three less if you have nine or more cards in the grave. Already, that's a good deal! When the dragon enters the battlefield three cards at random from the grave are exiled. You get to copy one of them for free. This has great potential for explosive turns. This slots into a big artifact or spell strategy. Any deck running cards like Trash to Treasure might want to give this dragon a look. If you can get a couple of powerful artifacts in the grave, this dragon could be your ticket to some surprise plays! It reminds me a lot of Arcane Proxy, and Diluvian Primordial. These effects of my favorites in more battlecruiser-style Commander.
The home of the red Praetor, Urbrask's Forge is a fantastic token generator for any deck that can splash red. I love that you are getting a bigger token every turn! This reminds me somewhat of an inverse Assemble the Legion. Unfortunately, you must say goodbye to your token at the end of each turn. That is unless you pair it with something like Sundial of the Infinite. Now you can amass a horrific Phyrexian army! I adore the Forge. It's going to be a cute low-key include in many decks.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One EDH Cards - Green
Conduit of Worlds represents something Wizards of the Coast has been doing a lot of lately. They are giving players more access to unique effects. We saw it earlier with Encroaching Mycosynth. Conduit of Worlds gives us a pretty good impersonation of Crucible of Worlds. Besides that we also get a wonderful extra effect tacked on too. This feels like it's made for a slippery Simic deck that is casting its spells during the opponent's turn. Conduit of Worlds' effect is well worth the cost of admission even if you never use the activated ability.
As a Superfriends player myself, Nissa does something I always love to see! She can use her big minus-seven ability the turn she comes in. This always excites me! The ability gives your creatures +1/+1 for each forest you control and trample until the end of the turn. For seven mana in a mono-green deck that is a formidable alpha strike!
Besides the oversized Overrun effect, Nissa is another compleated planeswalker. She has two Phyrexian green in her cost meaning you could play her for as little as five mana (though you won't be able to ultimate her immediately). Her first two abilities provide excellent protection. This planeswalker is super-flexible regardless of where in your curve you play her! The art calls back to her appearance in War of the Spark. I would encourage trying both iterations of her in your next Green deck.
All Will Be One Lands to Watch
Lands are always my favorite parts of the new set! First up we have Mirrex, this land taps for a colorless, or mana of any color if it entered the battlefield this turn. Already I love this land. I am a huge fan of mana fixing that enters untapped. The once-off nature of this is a bit of a slight against it but regardless I love this design space.
The exciting part is in its final ability. For three mana and tapping Mirrex, you can produce a 1/1 Phyrexian Mite token with toxic 1 that can't block. Creating tokens from a land is powerful. Mirrex is one of the best. Outside Field of the Dead you would struggle to find a more versatile token generator. Castle Ardenvale comes close. But, the stringent need for white mana makes it difficult in some decks. Mirrex is an all-star that can threaten lethal all thanks to those toxic Mites!
Another land to consider in this set is The Mycosynth Gardens. At its worst, this is a mundane filter land that taps for colorless or turns one mana into one mana of any color. But, the real meat of this land is that it can transform into a copy of another non-token artifact. This effect is permanent! The sky is the limit here! This effect is unique and versatile. I cannot wait to try it out! This land treads some new ground and stands out from other lands that copy other permanents.
Multi-Colored ONE Commander Picks
Jumping into the world of multi-colored. We have a slew of awesome cards. Many of them open up new Commander archetypes! Venser, Corpse Puppet, and Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres come to mind. They are Commanders in their own right. They could also fit in the main deck of a Sultai proliferate deck! It is easy to see these two in Volrath, the Shapestealer. As you distribute a deluge of -1/-1 and proliferate them for extra value.
Otharri, Sun's Glory is the alternative commander from the "Rebellion Rising" precon. For all who played back in Nemesis Standard with Rebel tribal, Otharri brings back Rebels. Rebels are a tribe that has gotten very little love for a long time. Rebels had only one real option, Lin-Sivvi Defiant Hero. A fine combo commander in her own right, but limited in nature.
Otharri gives rebels a more aggressive slant thanks to the addition of red. The set also expands the rebel card pool in general through five new rebels, the "For Mirrodin!" mechanic which creates a rebel token. While Rebels might not be the strongest tribe, it warms my heart to see this relic of Magic's past making a return.
Finally, we have two more artifact Commanders, one in five colors and the other colorless. Both pair well together and belongs in the same deck! Urtet, Remmannt of Memnarch is a Myr tribal commander! Every Myr you cast generates a 1/1 Myr token. Additionally, at the beginning of combat on your turn you untap each Myr you control. Finally, for one mana of each color and tapping Irtet you out three +1/+1 counters on each Myr you control!
That is a lot of text on such a little guy.
Many Myr tap for mana. You could use Urtet's ability, then go to combat and untap all your Myr, do it again, then swing in for massive damage. Going all in on a combat plan leads me to a colorless commander that belongs in Urtet, or being a commander itself.
Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut turns all creatures you control into Juggernauts. Additionally, it gives them base stats 5/3! Pair this with Urtet and his army of Myr! Now you have a force to be reckoned with going all out for huge damage!
Colorless ONE Cards I Love
Monument to Perfection has a lot of text. Let's get the functional part out of the way first. This is an artifact for two mana that can then search for a land every turn. Even if this only grabbed basics, it would be a welcome inclusion in non-green decks. The interesting stuff is that the Monument can grab "Sphere" and "Locus" lands as well.
Spheres are all over the place in this set (Mycosynth Garden is a sphere). Locus is the real treat! These haven't seen print since the original Mirrodin. Locus are lands that get better based on the number of Locus lands you control. Cloudpost adds mana for each Locus, while Glimmerpost gives you one life for each Locus. We haven't seen them since. Monument of Perfection grabbing Locus likely implies we will see them in an upcoming set.
With all that said we now get to the Monument's second ability. For three mana it becomes a 9/9 with indestructible and toxic 9. That's a hell of a transformation. But, you may only do it if you have nine different named lands among your basics, Spheres, and Locus'.
While I do not think this card is amazing, I love the design space. I cannot wait to see them explore this further! If you also have a love for lands you can check out our Lord Windgrace Gates deck tech.
Conclusion
With that, I hope you enjoyed our round-up of some of the All Will Be One cards we are most excited to try out in Commander! This set is full of unique mechanics, fun ideas, and an awesome aesthetic.
Let us know what cards we missed, and what you thought of our picks!
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