The Falcon, Airship RestoredThe Falcon, Airship Restored | Art by Kotakan

Hello, and welcome back to Beyond the Multiverse! This week, we're exploring a recent new ruling that was dropped in light of Edge of Eternity spoilers. Yes, legendary Vehicles can be commanders now (though I'm too much of a boomer to let that sink in), and there's a few to boot.

However, the number of Vehicles that work at the helm is severely limited for now, but we can expect this number to grow over time. That said, which Vehicle did I decide to cover today? Let's find out.

I'm On a Blimp

Firstly, not much is known about The Falcon, Airship RestoredThe Falcon, Airship Restored. It comes from Final Fantasy VI, and was the main airship the heroes used to traverse the world. That is, the world after Kefka made a mess of things, putting it lightly.

That said, our commander has a lot going for us. Firstly, it's in mono-black, so mana issues will be non-existent. That said, this forces us to get creative with our card choices.

Secondly, it's able to bring itself back onto the battlefield. This is huge, because we don't need to keep sending The Falcon back into the command zone.

Thirdly, it lets us reanimate a creature on contact, but it sacrifices itself in the process. Taking all of this into account, I'm sure you know where we're going.

Boarding the Ship

What we're doing here is essentially Mono-Black Reanimator, and there's plenty of choices. However, we need to trim the fat, and send it into the graveyard first.

Firstly, both Flayed OneFlayed One and Shinra ReinforcementsShinra Reinforcements do this upon entry. That said, Stitcher's SupplierStitcher's Supplier does this when it dies as well.

On the other hand, Rejoin the FightRejoin the Fight doesn't just mill us, but also can bring back up to three creatures from our graveyard. Though, the opponents will get to choose what comes back. The Warring TriadThe Warring Triad is lots of things: reanimation target, ramp, and a way to dig through our library.

Secondly, we can use Buried AliveBuried Alive to search for specific targets, and send them to the graveyard. Meanwhile, Key to the CityKey to the City can help The Falcon bypass flying blockers. That said, it also gets bigger creatures out of our hand, keep them from clogging it up.

Thirdly, like Rejoin the Fight, there's a few all-stars that can both mill and reanimate. Incarnation TechniqueIncarnation Technique's demonstrate ability allows us to copy it. On the other hand, The War in HeavenThe War in Heaven draws cards, mills us, and reanimates a creature, all in one package.

Speaking of packages, Tomb FortressTomb Fortress mills and reanimates, but exiling it makes it a one-time deal. Use it wisely.

Greeting the Passengers

We've milled some cards, and we have some form of reanimation in our hand, but what do we get back?

Firstly, you can always go the tried and true big stuff route. Archfiend of DepravityArchfiend of Depravity will ensure no board will clutter. In a similar vein, Zodiark, Umbral GodZodiark, Umbral God does his best Thanos impression, making everyone sacrifice half of their (non-God) creatures.

Hexmark DestroyerHexmark Destroyer, though, will be difficult to block unless there's an army of tokens. Conversely, Shard of the Void DragonShard of the Void Dragon will snipe a troublesome permanent.

Secondly, we can always bring back something that provides some utility. Seymour FluxSeymour Flux is a Phyrexian ArenaPhyrexian Arena that gets bigger with each trigger. Meanwhile, Siegfried, Famed SwordsmanSiegfried, Famed Swordsman mills us on entry, then gets bigger for each creature in our bin. However, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIERSephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER will drain our opponents while we keep killing off creatures, especially so if we can obtain his emblem.

Thirdly, there's always targets that help fulfill the deck's theme in some ways. Sepulchral PrimordialSepulchral Primordial will reanimate multiple creatures from our opponents. Summon: Primal OdinSummon: Primal Odin is scary: the first chapter destroys a creature, then it outright murders an opponent if it connects with the second chapter active; use Key to the City to make it even more disgusting.

Ardyn, the UsurperArdyn, the Usurper is graveyard hate on top of making a token copy of that creature. Said creature comes with sizeable states, plus keywords from Ardyn as well.

Lastly, if push comes to shove, we can always recur The Falcon, and use that to bring something back (just remember to crew it first!)

The Falcon, Airship Restored Commander Deck List

Making the Most of the Trip

Today's list is your average Reanimator list, only that we're restricted to black. Fortunately, The Falcon is reanimation, and can recur itself when we sacrifice it. Multiple reanimations like that aren't common (even if it's a hefty cost to bring it back from the graveyard).

Firstly, we have the fabled Cabal CoffersCabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of YawgmothUrborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth combo to provide us with a ton of mana to use. The only planeswalker in the deck, Liliana of the Dark RealmsLiliana of the Dark Realms, will help us either remove annoying permanents, or consistently let us hit our land drops. Don't count on hitting that emblem, but we basically win if you do. One of those lands can help cast Temporal ExtortionTemporal Extortion to give us an extra turn.

Secondly, Death in HeavenDeath in Heaven snipes our opponents' graveyard, but more importantly gives us bodies with which to crew The Falcon. In addition, smaller bodies like Gix, Yawgmoth PraetorGix, Yawgmoth Praetor, Shinra Reinforcements, and the tokens made from Black Market ConnectionsBlack Market Connections can help crew it, too.

Lastly, if we need to, we can close out games with cards like Rise of the Dark RealmsRise of the Dark Realms, and a flipped Zenos yae GalvusZenos yae Galvus. Another way, if you can pull it off, is to repeatedly trigger Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER (or his emblem if you manage to flip him)'s ability to drain your opponents.

Venturing Into the Blind Eternities

I've covered this in past articles (sidenote: I'm going to have to go out of my way to avoid more Reanimator articles), but going in-universe expands our reanimation suite. We gain access to cards like Animate DeadAnimate Dead and NecromancyNecromancy, which are cheap to cast.

On that note, since we're in mono-black, Gray Merchant of AsphodelGray Merchant of Asphodel becomes incredibly strong here, perhaps enough to be a finisher on its own. An oldie, but goodie, is Chainer, Dementia MasterChainer, Dementia Master, which is the perfect in-universe choice if Vehicles as commanders aren't your jam. He can even pull from our opponent's graveyards, too! He gets especially potent when we have the Coffers/Urborg combo, since his ability is repeatable.

In addition, Noxious GearhulkNoxious Gearhulk, a card I'm surprised hasn't gotten the Universes Beyond treatment yet, is all-around good removal on a decent body. Another good body to use is Archon of CrueltyArchon of Cruelty, which can run away with the game if unchecked.

Another good finisher is Torment of HailfireTorment of Hailfire, but know that it'll cause groans at the table, and isn't really a fun way to win.

Preparing to Land

Building a deck with a Vehicle as a commander was something I thought would never happen, but here we are. If you ask me, I was half-expecting planeswalkers to be first (technically, there a few where you can, but I wasn't counting those). Though, I imagine some of them would be too broken for the command zone, and the banlist would certainly get larger.

That said, I imagine we'll get more legendary Vehicles down the road, and in more color combinations now that they're legal as commanders. As of the writing, most of our choices are either monocolored, or colorless, and the options don't automatically scream commander-material (not the format, but as commanders).

Tune in next time, where we take an unexpected turn, and have a need to control some chaos.