Annihilating FireAnnihilating Fire | Art by Clint Cearley

Hello and welcome once again to Fire and Ice, the data-driven series where I go over cards that are gaining and losing popularity in different Commander decks. I'm Julia, EDHREC's Duchess of Data, and I'm super excited to jump into today's article!

EDHREC, of course, has a ton of data. Using that data, we'll draw conclusions about how certain commanders' decks have changed over time, give some insight into how the format's players are thinking about new cards, and hopefully give you some cool tech for your favorite commander's list.

Last week, we asked you to pick which commanders we'd focus this week's Fire and Ice on! As of the time of writing, Rowan, Scion of WarRowan, Scion of War got a full 45.59% of the vote and Najeela, the Blade-BlossomNajeela, the Blade-Blossom took home 27.94% of the vote, making them this week's lucky winners.

Gishath, Sun's AvatarGishath, Sun's Avatar nearly beat out Najeela with 26.47% of the vote, but the Dino was no match for the Warrior. If you'd like to help choose next week's commanders, take a look at the poll at the end of this article!

Let's see what these commanders have in store for us in this week's Fire and Ice.

Rowan, Scion of WarRowan, Scion of War

What's Hot and Cold for Rowan?

Rowan is one of the most powerful commanders printed in recent years. She lets us cast huge spells for free if we can manage to lose some life - something that's quite easy in her Rakdos () color identity!

Rowan's most popular cards fit nicely into that game plan. There's big spells like ExsanguinateExsanguinate (in 84% of decks) and Crackle with PowerCrackle with Power (in 67% of decks), and ways to lose life, like Treasonous OgreTreasonous Ogre (in 63% of decks).

What's Fiery for Rowan Decks?

The hottest card for Rowan, Scion of WarRowan, Scion of War decks is Sorceress's SchemesSorceress's Schemes, with a Fire Score of 5.30. This card isn't revolutionarily powerful, but it's essentially a one-mana way to buy back a payoff spell (like Torment of HailfireTorment of Hailfire). If you've lost enough life to almost take out the table, but couldn't quite get there, this spell lets you re-cast your game-ender and try again.

Speaking of recursion, the recently printed Will of the JeskaiWill of the Jeskai is hot too, with a Fire Score of 3.48. This mini-Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune is also a mini-Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach, two very powerful effects to have stapled together. This sorcery serves a similar function to Sorceress's Schemes: it lets us fire off our winning spell again if need be.

Both of these cards are cool includes, and I'm glad to see their growing popularity with Rowan's pilots.

We've got a trio of redirect spells up next. Flare of DuplicationFlare of Duplication's got a Fire Score of 2.43, Untimely MalfunctionUntimely Malfunction's got a Fire Score of 2.45, and Bolt BendBolt Bend's got a Fire Score of 2.28.

Our commander is, easily, the most important permanent in our deck. We really need low-cost or no-cost protection for her, and these spells certainly fill that role. I wouldn't be surprised if Avatar's Redirect LightningRedirect Lightning gets hot for this deck as well once it's available to deckbuilders.

Our last two hot cards are here likely because of their ability to be mana positive with our commander. Both Dark PetitionDark Petition and Big ScoreBig Score are essentially rituals if we've lost enough life. The tutor's got a Fire Score of 2.02, and the card selection spell's got a Fire Score of 2.12.

There's lots of other cards that can be mana-positive or mana-neutral with Rowan, so I'm sure that deckbuilders will find something of interest at this Scryfall link.

What's Icy for Rowan Decks?

The iciest card for Rowan is, surprisingly, Thousand-Year ElixirThousand-Year Elixir with an Ice Score of -2.35. This artifact is quite good, and provides Rowan with pseudo-haste while letting her tap twice in a given turn. My best guess is that it's being cut from lists because it occupies the same slot on our mana curve as Rowan. But, I would include the card in my version of the list regardless.

We've got three pieces of card advantage up next: Night's WhisperNight's Whisper and Wheel of MisfortuneWheel of Misfortune, both with an Ice Score of -2.31, and NecropotenceNecropotence with an Ice Score of -2.14.

Night's Whisper makes sense as a cut. It's just not very efficient card draw, especially given the other sources of draw that provides access to. Wheel of Misfortune and Necropotence make less sense as cuts, though. Both of these are great sources of card advantage that hit our life total, making them seemingly strong contenders for a slot in Rowan lists.

But, Wheel of Misfortune can fold to a well-coordinated table and Necropotence's cost can be difficult at times.

Our last Icy card is Jaya's Immolating InfernoJaya's Immolating Inferno, a sweet game-ender with an Ice Score of -2.17. This card seems perfect for EDH games; it can take out all three of our opponents at once, and will usually only cost two mana.

But there's a few things working against this spell: It's a sorcery, it requires , and we can only cast it if our commander is on the battlefield. While each of these drawbacks is minor on their own, they combine to make a card that's, in the eyes of many Rowan brewers, just not good enough anymore.

What's in a Rowan, Scion of War Deck?

Here's a Rowan deck with all of her Fiery cards included, and all of her Icy cards excluded!

Najeela, the Blade-BlossomNajeela, the Blade-Blossom

What's Hot and Cold for Najeela?

Najeela is a super popular commander, finding herself as the #98 commander on EDHREC. Lower power versions focus heavily on Warrior typal synergies, while cEDH versions of the deck play only the best Warriors while focusing more heavily on combo lines.

Either way, Najeela leads a lot of decks and can hang at almost any table.

The most popular cards in Najeela... actually aren't that popular. There's just two cards with inclusion rates above 60%: Samut, Vizier of NaktamunSamut, Vizier of Naktamun (seeing play in both casual and competitive builds) at 62%, and Derevi, Empyrial TacticianDerevi, Empyrial Tactician (seeing play primarily in competitive decks) at 61%.

Najeela pilots seem to be relatively evenly split between cEDH and casual, something that will guide the analysis you're about to read.

What's Fiery for Najeela Decks?

Most of the hot cards for this commander seem oriented towards those casual decks, so we'll talk about those first. Two different versions of Zurgo, both from our recent visit to Tarkir, are Fiery. Zurgo StormrenderZurgo Stormrender has a Fire Score of 4.22, and Zurgo, Thunder's DecreeZurgo, Thunder's Decree's got a Fire Score of 2.72.

Stormrender is a fantastic card, providing game-changing amounts of card draw or life drain for just . Thunder's Decree is no slouch either, letting all of our once-temporary Warrior tokens become permanent. When played alongside the mobilize tech from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, these cards shine.

Speaking of Warrior synergies, Gornog, the Red ReaperGornog, the Red Reaper is here with a Fire Score of 3.31. This Minotaur's got one of the greatest lines of Magic rules text of all time: "Cowards can't block Warriors." And, on top of that, it's a fun way for more casual Najeela decks to punch for through combat damage.

We've got two token-centric cards up next: Elspeth, Storm SlayerElspeth, Storm Slayer with a Fire Score of 2.81 and Stadium HeadlinerStadium Headliner with a Fire Score of 2.49. We'll be making a lot of tokens with Najeela at the helm of our deck, so we might as well take advantage of that fact with these two includes.

These are both fantastic cards in any go-wide deck, so their popularity here is no surprise at all.

We've got one more strictly-casual Fiery card for this deck: Windcrag SiegeWindcrag Siege (with a Fire Score of 2.05). Players of this enchantment will pretty much exclusively choose the Mardu mode, which doubles attack triggers. That means extra Warrior tokens from our commander, and extra attack triggers from any of our other permanents that might have them (like the mobilize cards I've talked so much about).

But, not all of Najeela's hot cards are for casual players. Voice of VictoryVoice of Victory, and its huge Fire Score of 8.46, show that it spans both halves of the Najeela pilot population. This card makes Warriors every turn, and it's got a cool Grand AbolisherGrand Abolisher-style effect stapled onto it.

It's got a little something for everyone, and is one of my personal favorite cards from Tarkir: Dragonstorm.

Now, onto two firmly higher-bracket cards: Deadly RollickDeadly Rollick has a Fire Score of 2.14 and Gifts UngivenGifts Ungiven's got a Fire Score of 2.44. Deadly Rollick is about as efficient as removal spells get in Commander, especially in a deck like this one that will pretty much always have its leader on board. Gifts Ungiven, on the other hand, was recently unbanned and can do some pretty silly, game-winning things when it resolves.

cEDH players have been putting together Gifts piles for weeks now, and five-color decks like this one have access to the best among those lines.

What's Icy for Najeela Decks?

Now, it's time to talk about the Icy cards for this commander. These are split into two broad categories: Warrior synergies and interaction. There's one card that doesn't fit those categories, though, and it's NeoformNeoform. Its Ice Score of -2.12 is likely due to some Najeela players choosing to bracket down their decks and play at tables without as many tutors. It may also be due to the card's relatively restrictive mana cost of .

Let's talk about those typal cards. Mindblade RenderMindblade Render and Rushblade CommanderRushblade Commander are Najeela's two coldest cards, with Ice Scores of -2.95 and -2.33, respectively. It's possible that these creatures, which were printed a full seven years ago, are being taken out of Najeela decks in favor of newer, sleeker designs. The twin Zurgos, for example, are powerful replacements for these outdated cards.

Next up, we've got a pair of somewhat narrow counterspells: Dovin's VetoDovin's Veto with an Ice Score of -2.26 and An Offer You Can't RefuseAn Offer You Can't Refuse with an Ice Score of -2.21. As more and more synergistic cards get added to Magic's card pool, casual deckbuilders tend to want their interaction to be as broad-reaching as possible, so that the relatively small number of deck slots dedicated to affecting opponents can be as efficient as possible.

I'm guessing that this mentality has led many deckbuilders to cut these pieces of countermagic for more generally applicable interaction.

Same goes for our final Icy cards, SnapSnap (Ice Score of -2.04) and Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares(Ice Score of -2.04, too). While these are highly mana-efficient forms of creature removal, they only hit creatures. Increasingly powerful effects are being put on enchantments, artifacts, and even lands.

I'm guessing that many casual Najeela pilots have seen that pattern, and are moving towards removal that can affect multiple different card types.

What's in a Najeela, the Blade-Blossom Deck?

Here's a Najeela list that I put together with all of her hot cards and none of her cold cards. This is a Bracket 4 deck!

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this week's edition of Fire and Ice, folks! As promised, here's your chance to vote on next week's commanders. Please take a moment and respond to our poll!