Bathe in DragonfireBathe in Dragonfire | Art by Chris Rallis

Hello and welcome once again to Fire and Ice, the series where we talk about which cards are gaining and losing popularity for different Commander decks!

I'm Julia, EDHREC's Duchess of Data, and I'm excited to bring you a special edition of Fire and Ice. We'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming soon, but today we're looking at the hottest and coldest cards for the most popular commanders across all 32 unique color identities.

For those of you tuning in for the first time, we'll typically focus in on two commanders, analyze each of their Fiery and Icy cards, and draw conclusions about how pilots are adjusting their deckbuilding mentality from that data. But, for now, let's look at a much bigger dataset and see what the numbers tell us.

What's Hot and What's Not for EDHREC's Top Commanders?

Fiery and Icy cards for EDHREC's top commanders - feel free to tap/click this image for a higher resolution view!

Monocolored

Two-colored

Three-Colored

Four- and Five-Color

Across all 32 of these commanders' hot cards, we see new cards feature heavily. Whether it's new Dragon tech from Tarkir: Dragonstorm for Miirym, Sentinel WyrmMiirym, Sentinel Wyrm pilots or +1/+1 counter synergy from Edge of Eternities for Ms. BumbleflowerMs. Bumbleflower pilots, a recent release date seems to be the biggest factor in a card's popularity.

Speaking of Edge of Eternities, this data shows us which of the set's bombs have found their niche in our format. TerrasymbiosisTerrasymbiosis and OuroboroidOuroboroid have certainly caught on with Commander players, having a home in most every +1/+1 counter deck on our list.

Their popularity is no surprise; they're among the most powerful green cards printed in recent memory, and they've got some fantastic art to boot.

Interestingly, only half of the Crystals from Final Fantasy are hot for their respective monocolored decks. The Wind CrystalThe Wind Crystal is Fiery for Giada, Font of HopeGiada, Font of Hope, The Darkness CrystalThe Darkness Crystal is Fiery for K'rrik, Son of YawgmothK'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, and The Fire CrystalThe Fire Crystal is Fiery for Krenko, Mob BossKrenko, Mob Boss.

Notably, The Water CrystalThe Water Crystal is not hot for Urza, Lord High ArtificerUrza, Lord High Artificer, likely because the deck is more focused on one- and two-drop artifacts than it is on discounting higher-cost spells. And The Earth CrystalThe Earth Crystal is not hot for Fynn, the FangbearerFynn, the Fangbearer, for much the same reason. The deck would rather spend on a few aggressive creatures than on a big artifact that doesn't immediately help advance their game plan.

I expect that, as we look at other popular -based decks, like Shroofus SproutsireShroofus Sproutsire, we'll see that The Earth Crystal is much less popular than its counterparts. While the artifact is, of course, extremely strong, green decks have access to cheaper ramp (like Llanowar ElvesLlanowar Elves) and cheaper ways to augment their +1/+1 counter availability (like Hardened ScalesHardened Scales).

That's just a small taste of the insights we like to offer in this series every week, so be sure to tune in every Friday to read more!

Q&A

This is the 14th edition of this series, and we've gotten a few questions from readers that we'd like to respond to!

Can you comment on overall trends in Bracket level in conjunction with these trends?

It's difficult to say exactly how many decks are in each Bracket, because the Bracket system is somewhat subjective. And, some players choose not to engage with the system at all, making it even harder to see what trends may arise.

But, after 13 articles and dozens of hours examining trends across Commander, I'd say that most players seem to be moving towards Bracket 3. It's a friendly environment, where fun still takes center stage over competition, but powerful plays are allowed. Most decks that I come across online, the majority of decks that I see in person, and almost all of my personal decks are firmly in Bracket 3.

I think that it's the best Bracket for most Commander players to sit at, and a lot of players seem to agree with me according to our data.

How do you create the deck lists you provide for each commander you analyze?

Typically, I'll start by importing the EDHREC Average Deck for a given commander into Archidekt. From there, I'll cut out each Icy card and add in each Fiery card. Then, if I need to make any cuts or additions, I'll use my best judgment to get down to an even 100 cards.

I want to keep these deck lists true to the community's builds of the commander in question, so I typically won't adjust too much of a deck's core as I move towards my final list. That means that, at times, suboptimal ramp pieces, low land counts, and outdated synergies may find their way into an article.

If you see something you don't like in one of my lists, I encourage you to build your own version, and share it with me in the comments below! I'm always learning, and would love to see your take on the commanders of the week.

In Conclusion...

That's all I've got for you this week, folks! Thanks as always for reading, and I hope to see you again next week for some more Fire and Ice action.

Were you surprised to see any of the hot or cold cards on our list? Did you find the trends I identified in the Bracket system to be of note? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!