Happy New Year’s Eve, Commander players. So many people have been looking forward to tonight as a symbol of refreshment and resolve, and I hope all of them are able to find it in their journey into 2021. But we’re not quite there yet, and just like a Magic deck that wants to play on opponents’ turns, we have to pass the turn and wait.
When you think about the logistics of the Elderly Old Year to Baby New Year transfer, you have to consider the sash. This time, Elderly New Year has carpal tunnel syndrome from working from home and playing video games, and as always, Baby New Year has cute tiny sausage fingers. We really don’t need that all-important sash transfer to be a Fumble. It happened one time back in the dark ages, and everyone involved agreed that they dropped the ball. And that’s why we drop the ball in Times Square. As a chilling reminder of what fumbles could be. True story.
Anyway, we need to somehow segue this into Commander, and so I’m gonna say that the sash transfer is now done by faeries. Faeries know fashion. This isn’t a faerie deck in the sense that it plays a lot of faeries, but the Commander is yet another sweet new option from Commander Legends in Nymris, Oona’s Trickster. The flying flashing faerie knight scratches the itch that so many players have had since they started playing (me included): to build a flash deck. Look out future, here we come!
Flash Forward
I do wish Slitherwisp was a legend, and could be a flash Commander, because the lifeloss is an achievable wincon that will seldom make opponents want to flip the table. But Nymris, Oona’s Trickster is still pretty great. It offers great defense and some sweet card selection, but is a very slow clock. How does Nymris win? Well, I split focus between a toolbox of flash creatures, instants, and enablers like Bosium Strip and Primal Amulet/Primal Wellspring, alongside a powerful group of finishers that I intend to reanimate. Nymris’ card selection ability has the feature of putting one card in the yard, which is where I want stuff like Grave Titan and Thieving Amalgam.
There isn’t a ton of flash reanimation, but we’re playing what I could find. Yay Fated Return! We’re leaning a little on the Commander’s card selection to bring it all together, but this deck should thrive on exactly the sort of timing a flash deck wants to play with. On end step. During draw phases. In response. All that good stuff. We’re not interested in playing permission, however, where the opponents have to check with us and our countermagic before doing anything, and that’s usually good for morale. We want memorable Nimble Obstructionist triggers, not table-wide lockdown. We’ve had enough lockdowns.
One place we’ve got an edge is in our mana rocks. Cards like Sapphire Medallion and Bontu’s Monument really help with playing on other turns. The Familiar cycle from Planeshift, like Nightscape Familiar can be good budget options, too. The medallions have gotten really expensive, and are best in mono-colour decks, but we’re going to make good use of them. If any other cards become expendable, I can see myself adding an Inspiring Statuary to make some sneaky mana. Since I built the deck, I picked up a copy of Faerie Tauntings that will also go in at the first opportunity.
While that’s it for the blog for this year, I’ve still got plenty of Commander Legends content still to come. A few more decks, a battlebox, and more. Have a safe, fun evening, and take this last chance to relax before we flash forward. Thanks for reading! Your life matters. Black Lives Matter!
I’ve been pretty happy with what I’ve seen out of Nymris so far. I think she’s still quite an underrated commander! Great list!
Thanks! If I could add something, it might be Torrential Gearhulk.
Torrential Gearhulk is an amazing card! Does a lot of work.
Great! Thank you!