<h6 style="text-align: right;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fire // Ice|CMD|198" href="#" target="_blank">Fire // Ice</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | art by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_L._Martin">David Martin</a> &amp; <a href="https://www.franz-vohwinkel.com/">Franz Vohwinkel</a></h6>
<p>Hello, and welcome back to <em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fire // Ice" href="#" target="_blank">Fire // Ice</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></em>, a data-driven series where we'll go over some cards that are gaining and losing popularity in various Commander decks. I'm Julia, EDHREC's Duchess of Data.</p>
<p>Of course, EDHREC has a ton of data. Using this data, we'll draw some conclusions about how certain commander's decks are changing over time, give some insight into how players are thinking about new cards, and maybe even give you some cool tech for your favorite commander's list. Now, let's jump right into it!</p>
<p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/introducing-the-math-behind-edhrecs-fire-and-ice-series"><strong><em>For information on how we calculate the </em>Fire and Ice<em> Scores used in this article, check out this writeup.</em></strong></a></p>
<h1><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Breya, Etherium Shaper" href="#" target="_blank">Breya, Etherium Shaper</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h1>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Breya, Etherium Shaper"></div></div>
<p>Breya has long been one of the format's most popular commanders, and currently sits at the #46 spot on our top commander list.</p>
<p>This 4-color deck wants us to fill our deck with synergistic artifacts, and rewards us with a powerful sacrifice outlet in the command zone. This deck can get quite powerful, and <a href="https://commanderspellbook.com/search/?q=card%3A%22Breya%2C+Etherium+Shaper%22+ci%3Ayoretiller">Breya herself is part of over a dozen infinite combos</a>.</p>
<p>Breya decks have diverse game plans, but some popular cards include <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sai, Master Thopterist" href="#" target="_blank">Sai, Master Thopterist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (in 60% of decks), <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skullclamp" href="#" target="_blank">Skullclamp</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (in 54% of decks), and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Etherium Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Etherium Sculptor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (in 56% of decks).</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sai, Master Thopterist"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Skullclamp"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Etherium Sculptor"></div></div>
<p>Now that we know what Breya does, let's see what cards are hot and cold for her deckbuilders!</p>
<h2>What's Fiery for Breya Decks?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Stridehangar Automaton"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Daretti, Scrap Savant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Voyage Home"></div></div>
<p>Artifact decks have gotten a lot of love recently, especially from <em>Aetherdrift</em>. First, and most popular, is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Stridehangar Automaton" href="#" target="_blank">Stridehangar Automaton</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> with a super high Fire Score of 6.73, the highest we've seen so far in this series.</p>
<p>Looking closely at the card, it's not hard to see why this card is being put in so many Breya lists. It's an anthem for the most common artifact creature token that these decks have access to, it's functionally a token-doubler in most scenarios, and <a href="https://commanderspellbook.com/search/?q=card%3A%22Stridehangar+Automaton%22+ci%3Ayoretiller">it's part of even more combos than Breya herself is</a>. This card is a slam dunk include here.</p>
<p>Next up is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Daretti, Scrap Savant" href="#" target="_blank">Daretti, Scrap Savant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, who has a Fire Score of 2.81 despite being released over a decade ago. This card is a great include in Breya decks, providing valuable card selection and artifact recursion. I'm surprised that this card's inclusion rate has risen so much recently, given its age. But, it's a powerful card that works well in the deck.</p>
<p>Finally, there's <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Voyage Home" href="#" target="_blank">Voyage Home</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> with a Fire Score of 3.19. In decks that easily create huge boards full of artifacts, this card is essentially <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Healing Salve" href="#" target="_blank">Healing Salve</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ancestral Recall" href="#" target="_blank">Ancestral Recall</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> stapled together.</p>
<p>This is one such artifact-heavy deck, so it tracks that this card has been slotted into a ton of Breya decks since it was released earlier this year.</p>
<h2>What's Icy for Breya Decks?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Counterspell"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rhystic Study"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Crime Novelist"></div></div>
<p>There's a few cards that have been taken out of Breya decks recently, but none seem to have left as many decks as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Counterspell" href="#" target="_blank">Counterspell</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. With an Ice Score of -3.98, deckbuilders are shying away from this OG piece of counteraction.</p>
<p>I'd hazard a guess that Breya's deckbuilders are more focused on mana-efficient or easier-to-cast interaction, and would rather run countermagic that is free or closer to it. <em>Magic</em>, in general, is printing more and more exciting cards that Breya pilots may want to try out in place of old staples.</p>
<p>We also see big drops in deck inclusion rate for noted <a href="https://edhrec.com/top/game-changers">Game Changer</a> <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rhystic Study" href="#" target="_blank">Rhystic Study</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Reshape" href="#" target="_blank">Reshape</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, two very powerful cards. Rhystic Study has an Ice Score of -2.93 and Reshape has an Ice Score of -2.82.</p>
<p>Given <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/wotc-introduces-new-bracket-system-for-edh">the implementation of the bracket system</a>, and these cards' status as a Game Changer and a tutor respectively, players who'd rather play in Bracket 3 pods may be slotting these cards out so that they can comfortably sit at those tables.</p>
<p>These cards are about as good as it gets for card advantage and tutors in high-powered casual decks, so I'm guessing that these cards' changes in inclusion rate indicate that some players are moving their decks down the bracket system.</p>
<p>Notably, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Crime Novelist" href="#" target="_blank">Crime Novelist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has also fallen out of Breya lists, with an Ice Score of -2.11. This card is really cool, and I expected it to be quite popular following its release in <em>Murders at Karlov Manor</em>. But, it's included in just 2.33% of eligible decks, and appears to be leaving a significant number of Breya decks recently.</p>
<p>This card is powerful, but requires a specifically crafted board state to unlock its full potential. Breya players may be leaning towards easier-to-activate value engines, like some of the cards we talked about in the Fiery section for this commander.</p>
<div id="attachment_159477" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.33-PM-scaled.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-159477" class="wp-image-159477 size-full" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.33-PM-scaled.png" alt="" width="2560" height="851" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.33-PM-scaled.png 2560w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.33-PM-300x100.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.33-PM-1024x340.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.33-PM-768x255.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.33-PM-1536x511.png 1536w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.33-PM-2048x681.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-159477" class="wp-caption-text">Recent trend data for Breya, Etherium Shaper</p></div>
<h1><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Marneus Calgar" href="#" target="_blank">Marneus Calgar</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h1>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Marneus Calgar"></div></div>
<p>Marneus looks to make a lot of tokens, a <em>lot</em> of the time. To be more specific, this deck wants to have a ton of tokens that enter the battlefield at different times so that our commander can provide huge amounts of card advantage.</p>
<p>This commander was also the leader of a preconstructed deck from the <em>Warhammer 40K</em> series, so a lot of its pilots have upgraded copies of that deck to make it their own.</p>
<p>All that said, some of the most popular cards in Marneus decks include <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nadir Kraken" href="#" target="_blank">Nadir Kraken</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (in 57% of decks), <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ashnod&#039;s Altar" href="#" target="_blank">Ashnod&#039;s Altar</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (<a href="https://commanderspellbook.com/combo/245-1722-2034/">which combos with Nadir Kraken</a> and is in 45% of decks), and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kambal, Profiteering Mayor" href="#" target="_blank">Kambal, Profiteering Mayor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (in 48% of decks).</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nadir Kraken"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ashnod&#039;s Altar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kambal, Profiteering Mayor"></div></div>
<h2>What's Fiery for Marneus Decks?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Voice of Victory"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Warren Soultrader"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Amphibian Downpour"></div></div>
<p>By far the highest rising card in Marneus Calgar decks is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Voice of Victory" href="#" target="_blank">Voice of Victory</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, with a Fire Score of 5.98. This <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grand Abolisher" href="#" target="_blank">Grand Abolisher</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> variant works perfectly in this deck, as its Mobilize trigger makes some creature tokens that its commander turns into card advantage. And, it's got the most important parts of Grand Abolisher on an easier-to-cast body, making it invaluable for some higher power versions of this deck.</p>
<p>Now, let's talk about <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/fire-and-ice-what-cards-are-hot-and-cold-for-july-2025">a card we also talked about last week</a>: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Warren Soultrader" href="#" target="_blank">Warren Soultrader</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This card has a Fire Score of 2.93 in Marneus decks, and its easy to see why. It's a (virtually) free sacrifice outlet that draws us a card every time we activate it with our commander on the battlefield.</p>
<p>It's pretty difficult to think of a sac outlet that's more efficient than this for token decks, so it makes a lot of sense that its growing in popularity for Marneus players.</p>
<p>Next up is a card that might seem somewhat strange at first glance, but actually works perfectly in the deck. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Amphibian Downpour" href="#" target="_blank">Amphibian Downpour</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> costs twice as much as a typical <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Frogify" href="#" target="_blank">Frogify</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> effect, <em>but...</em> it has Storm.</p>
<p>Because copies of this card on the stack will enter the battlefield at separate times as tokens, each copy of this card on the stack represents a piece of removal <strong>and</strong> a card drawn. That's extremely powerful, and Marenus pilots are taking notice.</p>
<h2>What's Icy for Marneus Decks?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Space Marine Devastator"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ultramarines Honour Guard"></div></div>
<p>There's actually only two cards that are leaving a significant number of Marenus Calgar decks: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Space Marine Devastator" href="#" target="_blank">Space Marine Devastator</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ultramarines Honour Guard" href="#" target="_blank">Ultramarines Honour Guard</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>Both of these cards are good, and both of them can make token copies of themselves, and both of them were included in the original precon from 2022. They've got Ice Scores of -2.04 and -2.09 respectively.</p>
<p>But, as more players upgrade their decks with new cards from <em>Tarkir: Dragonstorm</em> and <em>Final Fantasy</em>, these less powerful Squad cards are likely being taken out for the new hotness.</p>
<div class="mceTemp">
<p><a style="font-size: 16px;" href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.17-PM-scaled.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-159478" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.17-PM-scaled.png" alt="" width="2560" height="871" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.17-PM-scaled.png 2560w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.17-PM-300x102.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.17-PM-1024x348.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.17-PM-768x261.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.17-PM-1536x523.png 1536w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-17-at-12.36.17-PM-2048x697.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a></p>
<h1>Conclusion</h1>
<p>So that's what's Hot, and what's not, for July 18th, 2025. Did any of the cards surprise you? Have you added any of the cards I've talked about to your decks? Let me know in the comments below. For now, I'll see you all soon for another edition of Fire and Ice!</p>
</div>


Fire and Ice: What Cards are Hot and Cold for July 18, 2025?

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wastes|OGW|184" href="#" target="_blank">Wastes</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://raymondswanland.com/">Raymond Swanland</a>)</h6>
<h1>What Does It Mean To Be Colorless?</h1>
<p>Hey here's a question for you, is colorless a "color" in <em>Magic: The Gathering</em>? Here on <em>The Monolith </em>we talk about monocolored deck building.</p>
<p>And whilst I'm sure you wouldn't bat an eye if I called an all green deck monocolored, would you consider an all colorless deck to be monocolored?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Karn, Silver Golem"></div></div>
<p>Back in 1997, Inquest Magazine posted an April fools joke announcement with some huge news. A new color was coming to <em>Magic: The Gathering</em>!</p>
<p>Produced from basic portal lands, purple mana was being introduced into <em>Magic's </em>card pool and it would allow players to do strange things like control their opponent's turn and anchor creatures to other permanents. It was all very strange and cryptic and, obviously, complete nonsense.</p>
<h2>Planned All Along?</h2>
<p>No, <em>Wizards of the Coast</em> didn't have any plans to add a sixth color to the famous 5 pointed star that makes up <em>Magic's</em> core design philosophy. In fact, in the end, they didn't really need to. <em>Magic</em> had given us a sixth color of <em>Magic</em> from the game's very inception.</p>
<p>It was there in Alpha and remains in every set printed since. All the way up to whatever set just released as you're reading this. Colorless mana!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Emrakul, the Aeons Torn"></div></div>
<p>And whilst it did have some key features that separated it from the big five, it wasn't until the dawn of the Eldrazi that we got to see colorless' true colors.</p>
<p>Colorless was now represented by its very nature. Devoid. Inhuman. The spaces between reality. The Eldrazi were a perfect fit for that philosophy.</p>
<p>An unknowable cosmic horror from beyond our understanding. Colorless now had its own kindred strategies. It had mechanical flavor.</p>
<h3>Mechanical Mechanics</h3>
<p>And this was merely a flourish on what was already there. Colorless was already associated with the machine. Artifacts and Urza's inventions. The Tron lands and mana rocks making for strange, colorless ramp tied to permanents.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urza&#039;s Tower"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urza&#039;s Power Plant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urza&#039;s Mine"></div></div>
<p>Artifact cards in general, whilst playing well with most colors, are predominantly colorless themselves. A few might have a proper pip in them, but for the most part they're all paid for by generic mana.</p>
<p>That is of course then reflected by its sub-type Equipment. Most would associate them with red or white, but equipment cards are overwhelmingly colorless as well.</p>
<p>Colorless had a "vibe" to it that the release of the Eldrazi merely solidified and expanded upon. It was an elegant solution from <em>Magic's </em>designers to fulfill their "what if?" fantasies of a new color. To build on something that was as yet untouched but already bubbling under the surface of the game.</p>
<h2>Still Not Enough</h2>
<p>But despite all this support for <em>Magic's </em>secret sixth primary, there are still those out there that would say, "No! There are five colors in <em>Magic</em>.</p>
<p>Colorless is not a color, it is merely a supplement to the actual five." And they're not unsupported in that claim. In fact, those are the actual rules of <em>Magic: The Gathering</em>!</p>
<p>'105.1. There are five colors in the <em>Magic</em> game: white, blue, black, red, and green'</p>
<p>'105.4. If a player is asked to choose a color, they must choose one of the five colors. “Multicolored” is<br />
not a color. Neither is “colorless.”'</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Angelic Intervention"></div></div>
<p>That's why when this protection spell was printed in <em>March of the Machine</em>, a set that largely revolved around the mechanic of making colorless creature tokens, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Angelic Intervention" href="#" target="_blank">Angelic Intervention</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> had to be worded like this. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mother of Runes" href="#" target="_blank">Mother of Runes</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can't protect you from a colorless spell.</p>
<h2>Then What The Heck is My Eldrazi Deck?</h2>
<p>Now whilst I'm sure this was debated for a long time before hand, I think this really became a point of contention when EDH started to gain popularity.</p>
<p>In Commander of course, your deck has a color identity. If your commander is red, you can only include red cards in its deck. Those are the rules of the format.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Liberator, Urza&#039;s Battlethopter"></div></div>
<p>So what about when I build a deck around <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Liberator, Urza&#039;s Battlethopter" href="#" target="_blank">Liberator, Urza&#039;s Battlethopter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>? Colorless spells have no color. So they can be included in a Commander deck of any color.</p>
<p>But if my commander itself has no color. Then the color identity of that deck... is colorless. It can only run colorless spells. Does that mean that colorless is a color identity? Or that my deck simply doesn't have one?</p>
<h3>The Evidence is There</h3>
<p>And that might be a technicality but there's plenty of other things in the game that point toward this point's legitimacy. Colorless, for example, has its own basic land type. The <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wastes" href="#" target="_blank">Waste</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wastes"></div></div>
<p>That's something that might seem silly or gimmicky until you realize that there are plenty of spells that straight up require colorless mana to cast. In fact, <em>Modern Horizons 3 </em>added a whole heaping of them to the card pool.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="It That Heralds the End"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Breaker of Creation"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Echoes of Eternity"></div></div>
<p>The aforementioned <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Angelic Intervention" href="#" target="_blank">Angelic Intervention</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is worded that way because needing to protect yourself from a colorless threat is just as important in the game as any of the main five colors.</p>
<p>There's plenty of colorless creatures, spells, and abilities. You need to be able to protect yourself from them in some way.</p>
<h2>Colorless KPIs</h2>
<p>So there's a mechanical justification for this aesthetic problem, but what about the actual aesthetics themselves. As our title asks, what does it mean to be colorless? If red is know by its aggression, direct damage, and impulsive draw. What is colorless known for?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Myr Enforcer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Myr Battlesphere"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Myr Retriever"></div></div>
<p>The Eldrazi are certainly the poster child creature type, but there's also the robots and automatons as well. The Myr of <em>Mirrodin </em>have plenty of iconic cards without a single colored pip.</p>
<p>Not to mention all the Assembly Workers and Constructs. There's also some incredibly influential characters in <em>Magic's </em>lore who don't identify with any of the five colors.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ugin, Eye of the Storms"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Karn Liberated"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tezzeret, Cruel Captain"></div></div>
<p>Ugin has just returned to the fold in <em>Tarkir: Dragonstorm </em>but as the brother of legendary big bad Nicol Bolas, he's been incredibly influential over <em>Magic's</em> history.</p>
<p>Karn is no different, forming Mirrodin itself and inadvertently spreading the curse of the Phyrexians. We've just seen spoilers for <em>Edge of Eternities</em> and Tezzeret has popped once again as well. Despite being largely aligned with blue and black mana in the past, this time around he's completely colorless.</p>
<h3>Solid as Darksteel</h3>
<p>Being colorless when you're a named character is a big deal as well. There's plenty of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skittering Surveyor" href="#" target="_blank">Skittering Surveyor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>s that only exist to make draft a little easier and don't really impact the story all that much.</p>
<p>We're trained to think that something being colorless means that it doesn't really matter what color deck you play it in, it's a slightly worse card that anyone can play. Or it's generic enough that anyone would use it.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tezzeret, Artifice Master"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tezzeret, Master of Metal"></div></div>
<p>But when a mainline character who's been in color before, turns up colorless? That means something. It's a statement by <em>Wizards of the Coast. </em>His colorless identity means something stylistically, narratively, and gameplay...ly.</p>
<h2>All is Dust</h2>
<p>So what does this all really mean? In the end its semantics really. The only reason I brought it up is as a big fan of monocolored decks, I've always drawn to the strange allure of a deck that runs absolutely no colors at all.</p>
<p>But with the amount of support <em>Wizards </em>has printed for that archetype, it seems in my mind like it's an idea that's officially supported. Even if the official rules of the game perhaps state otherwise.</p>
<p>It's also an interesting look at how our patterns of play can change how we see our favorite card game. This thought may have never crossed my mind if Emrakul or the Devoid keyword was never printed.</p>
<p>If the colorless mana symbol was never introduced. Or if the format we all now know and love as Commander never rose to popularity.</p>
<p>Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Would you die on the hill that wastes produce <em>Magic's </em>sixth color of mana? Or are you staunch five-only truther? If you were going to add a sixth color to <em>MTG </em>which stupid shade would you pick, and why is it <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@officialmagiconline/video/7508864340657769758">Periwinkle</a>?</p>
<p>Regardless, thank you for reading, and I'll see you on the next edition of <em>The Monolith</em>.</p>


Are Colorless Cards Part of Magic's Color Pie?

Are Red's Nonbasic Lands the Worst? A Scientific Analysis

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wheel of Fortune" href="#" target="_blank">Wheel of Fortune</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>| art by <a href="https://gatherer.wizards.com/search?artistName=eq~Daniel_Gelon">Daniel Gelon</a></h6>
<p>We've all had to mulligan. It's the nature of randomness of any game even with four of a kind. My question, as it has always been, is are we strict enough about mulligans in Commander, or perhaps too strict, or perhaps it hasn't been well defined or enforced either way.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Black Vise"></div></div>
<h2>The History of the Mulligan in MTG</h2>
<p>Before we can talk about Commander, a format that only rose to popularity enough to be a recognized format in 2013, we have to talk about <em>Magic</em> in August of 1993.</p>
<p>I found out today that the original game of <em>Magic</em> had no mulligan rules. Its game designers were worried about the very thing that is the crux of most mulligan arguments: They believed it rewarded poor deck building.</p>
<h3>The 1st Mulligan in <em>Magic</em></h3>
<p>However, mulligans were instated literally less than a year later, in 1994. Players likely proved that the system was as-then currently too strict to reward even good deckbuilding.</p>
<p>At least, that's my theory. This mulligan consisted of a player revealing their opening hand, showing no spells or no lands, and drafting a fresh hand. You could only do this once per game. This didn't last by itself very long.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wheel of Fortune"></div></div>
<h3>The Paris Mulligan</h3>
<p>In 1997, the Paris Mulligan rose to popularity. It was suggested as an alternative by Matt Hydra, a Pro Tour player. Mulligans would happen after starting player was determined, but before any other actions.</p>
<p>If dissatisfied with their hand, a player could put their hand back in the deck and draw one less than the the starting hand, all without revealing their hand.</p>
<p>For each mulligan, the player would draw one less card, until they were satisfied or were left with no cards in hand.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gauntlet of Might"></div></div>
<h3>Vancouver Mulligan</h3>
<p>Surprisingly, when I first played a prerelease in 2016 for <em>Kaladesh</em>, they were still using The Paris Mulligan at the local LGS I was at.</p>
<p>This is interesting, because the Vancouver Mulligan went into syndicated ruling effect in 2015. This consisted of the same rules as the Paris Mulligan, but the person with fewer than the starting hand could Scry 1.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mana Vault"></div></div>
<h3>The London Mulligan</h3>
<p>The London Mulligan (the system we have in place now) was established in <em>Core Set 2020</em> . The rule is: If a player is dissatisfied with their hand after starting player is decided, they may shuffle their hand back in, draw up to seven cards, and put back one card at the bottom of their library in any order for each additional mulligan. No scrying is allowed.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nevinyrral&#039;s Disk"></div></div>
<h2>Commander Mulligan</h2>
<p>It's actually news to me that the official rules for mulligans for Commander were as they were. I've always heard that Commander has a "free" mulligan. Meaning if you don't like your first hand, you may draw another 7 with no penalty or additional rulings.</p>
<p>Well, there is no official ruling saying this is true. There are a lot of informal rules, but officially Commander follows competitive format rulings on mulligans.</p>
<p>It's important to note however, most players follow the free mulligan rule more casually. The Commander Rule Committee (CRC) advises that even in 1v1 Commander, the free mulligan be used.</p>
<p>The CRC goes one step further and says to set aside hands instead of shuffling them into the deck to save time on shuffling.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Savannah Lions"></div></div>
<h3>Additional Commander Mulligan Types</h3>
<p>There is also the Partial Paris Mulligan, which allows players to set aside any amount of cards from their hand and draw that many minus one for each mulligan. Once the hand is selected, the set side cards are shuffled in.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sol Ring"></div></div>
<h2>The Sides and Their Merits</h2>
<p>Now that we have a good understanding of where mulligans come from, we have some frame of reference. There isn't a ton online about the reasoning behind some of the updates to mulligans throughout the years, but we can take some educated guesses.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Howling Mine"></div></div>
<h3>Strict Mulligan Rulings</h3>
<p>Definition: Following the rules of competitive pay. No free mulligans or only one.</p>
<p>This is at the core of competitive play. We want to know when we play competitively, we minimize as much randomness as we can.</p>
<p>We tune our decks to ensure that it plays as consistently as possible. With a strict mulligan rule, it allows some insight into the strengths and weaknesses of a deck.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Ur-Dragon"></div></div>
<p>An example may be: If in your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Ur-Dragon" href="#" target="_blank">The Ur-Dragon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck you have to mulligan a lot because most of the permanents in your hand are too costly mana-value wise, it might be a indication that your deck needs more early game options.</p>
<p>You might also discover that in testing with your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bristly Bill, Spine Sower" href="#" target="_blank">Bristly Bill, Spine Sower</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> landfall deck you're not seeing anything but lands. It may be that you don't have enough draw in your deck, or that you might be running a touch too many lands. Mulligans can help show you this.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bristly Bill, Spine Sower"></div></div>
<p>If you find in your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Coram, the Undertaker" href="#" target="_blank">Coram, the Undertaker</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deck you're not managing to get Coram out fast enough, you might not be running enough ramp. That could be why you haven't been seeing them consistently in your opening hands.</p>
<p>Additionally, it's important as a skill to see whether a hand is worth keeping. Don't push your luck. It's a skill of its own knowing what's keepable in your deck based on how you've built it. Strict mulligan rule help hone this skill.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Coram, the Undertaker"></div></div>
<p>All in all, stricter mulligan rules clarify how efficient you can be as a deck builder, and that is something worth exploring.</p>
<h3>Loose Mulligan Rules</h3>
<p>Definition: basically an amount of mulligans based on vibes.</p>
<p>This is at the core of casual play. We want to know when we play casually that we minimize how "unfun" a game can be for other payers.</p>
<p>Specifically, we want to allow any amount of chances for a player to have a fulfilling game of Commander. With a loose mulligan rule, it allows us to maximize the amount of fun the whole tables has on average.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mystic Remora"></div></div>
<p>We've all been in a bad rut where a well-tuned mana base or an efficient deck just has an attitude with you and won't draw well and won't shuffle well. I've once shuffled my deck and saw the same 4 cards in each opening hand.</p>
<p>In a deck that runs 60 singleton, plus some number of unique non-basic lands cards, it's likely that the odds be against you in getting a consistent hand.</p>
<p>We know that <em>Magic </em>sets sometimes print functionally redundant cards, like running <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Swords to Plowshares" href="#" target="_blank">Swords to Plowshares</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Path to Exile" href="#" target="_blank">Path to Exile</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Beast Within" href="#" target="_blank">Beast Within</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Generous Gift" href="#" target="_blank">Generous Gift</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Running cards that function essentially the same is the key to optimization in a deck, but sometimes the randomness is truly just the randomness.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Pongify"></div></div>
<p>It's tough looking at a player who is going to have to sit through a one hour game and tell them they have to play with two cards in hand versus another player who is keeping a solid seven.</p>
<p>Additionally, even if a player deck is unoptimized, is it worth making them play through hours of gameplay to prove that to them?</p>
<p>Most people end up mulligan-ing around three times with loose mulligans rules, and while this can be annoying, social pressure usually encourages them to explain what elements of their decks they're running with.</p>
<p>People will ask after the third mulligan: How many lands and mana rocks are you running? What is the curve of your deck? How many creatures are you running?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Three Visits"></div></div>
<p>All in all, casual mulligans allow for more consistently fun games for everyone.</p>
<h2>Synthesizing the Mulligan</h2>
<p>In writing this article, I've dug up a lot of research about mulligans and it's changed my understanding. I don't think it changes my personal stance, but it clarifies some things for me.</p>
<p>I think Loose Mulligans are better as long as there is a bit of social pressure. I'm not letting someone craft their perfect hand, but I want them to have a playable seven.</p>
<p>My main reasoning here starts with the fact that Commander is a traditionally casual format. The free mulligan that has made its way into the format emphasizes the typical casualness of the game.</p>
<p>We want everyone to have fun more than we want people to build a perfectly optimized deck. If I want that kind of restriction, I would play CEDH.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tymna the Weaver"></div></div>
<p>I'm not saying we shouldn't build competitively in the casual format. We all do. This is why <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/wotc-introduces-new-bracket-system-for-edh">the Bracket System</a> is so important. It's just what our priorities should be.</p>
<p>Secondly, in my experience, what makes me decks more efficient isn't just what I see in a mulligan or two.</p>
<p>I learn far more about my decks when it loses to a deck that is just that more efficient, even when my deck performs as intended.</p>
<p>If my deck needs more card draw, better ramp, or lower mana value spells, I can still play may deck at peak and understand those problems.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Darksteel Forge"></div></div>
<p>In my experience, I've just had to play against other tuned decks to understand my weaknesses. Iron sharpens iron. I often notice my lack of draw when another deck does it better and so on.</p>
<p>Lastly, I didn't realize how gradually mulligans have rewarded players more over time. Even in competitive formats, the strictness of the mulligan couldn't cancel out the randomness of the game. But perhaps that's a little naive of me. Let me know, I'm <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/strixhavendropout.bsky.social">@strixhavendropout on Blue Sky</a>.</p>


Should We Be Strict About Mulligans in Commander?

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sword of Fire and Ice" href="#" target="_blank">Sword of Fire and Ice</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | art by <a href="https://www.rahnart.com/">Chris Rahn</a></h6>
<p>Hello, data enthusiasts, and welcome to this overview of the math behind the new <em>Fire and Ice</em> data articles. In this series, we'll we dive into the recent card-playing trends within a given commander and identify the biggest movers as defined as:</p>
<p><strong><em>Cards that are either significantly increasing or decreasing in usage with a given commander relative to other cards played with that commander over the most recent six months.</em></strong></p>
<p>This article will provide an overview of the math behind identifying these "fiery" (trending up) and "icy" (trending down) cards.</p>
<p><strong><em>Why</em> </strong>a given card might be fiery or icy, however, is up to interpretation, and we look forward to speculating wildly in our <em>Fire and Ice</em> series!</p>
<h2>Overview of the Math</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We start by looking at all cards that are played with each commander aside from those that are very rare (&lt;2.5% of decks) or very ubiquitous (&gt; 97.5% of decks). </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We calculate the weekly usage of these cards as a percentage of all decks for each given commander for the past six months. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Then, we determine the average change from week to week and summarize the data with a single "extremeness" score (also known as a z-score) as follows:</span></p>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/latex_z_score-2.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-158164" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/latex_z_score-2-300x41.png" alt="" width="300" height="41" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/latex_z_score-2-300x41.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/latex_z_score-2-768x105.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/latex_z_score-2.png 990w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a></p>
<p><em>where x = average weekly change in card usage (% of decks for this commander)</em></p>
<p>We currently identify those cards with extremeness &gt; 2 as "fiery", or having a high Fire Score, and those with extremeness &lt; -2 as "icy", or having a low Ice Score.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Ur-Dragon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Omnath, Locus of Rage"></div></div>
<p>Using these extremeness scores allows us to control for the unique deck-building behavior of each commander rather than using a fixed threshold of average change to identify big movers.</p>
<p>For example, a commander that has been around for a while that has fairly predictable deck-building (e.g. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Ur-Dragon" href="#" target="_blank">The Ur-Dragon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>) will see very little movement in the usage of each card over time compared to a commander that has more flexibility in its play (e.g. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Omnath, Locus of Rage" href="#" target="_blank">Omnath, Locus of Rage</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>).</p>
<p>This might mean a relatively small uptick for a card played with The Ur-Dragon will have the same Fire score as a card with a large uptick with Omnath.</p>
<h2>An Example</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let's take a look at card usage in <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urza, Lord High Artificer" href="#" target="_blank">Urza, Lord High Artificer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> decks over the six month period from December 24, 2024 to June 24, 2025.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> This plot shows a time series of the weekly usage of all 378 qualifying cards across this commander's decks. </span></p>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.24 PM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-158181" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.24 PM-1024x574.png" alt="" width="767" height="430" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.24 PM-1024x574.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.24 PM-300x168.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.24 PM-768x430.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.24 PM-1536x861.png 1536w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.24 PM.png 2016w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 767px) 100vw, 767px" /></a></p>
<p>Another way we can look at the data is relative to the start of the time period.</p>
<p>Here, we see certain cards emerge more clearly as "big movers".</p>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.12 PM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-158182" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.12 PM-1024x561.png" alt="" width="761" height="417" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.12 PM-1024x561.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.12 PM-300x164.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.12 PM-768x421.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.12 PM-1536x842.png 1536w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-12.41.12 PM.png 2026w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 761px) 100vw, 761px" /></a></p>
<p>If we calculate the average weekly change for each card and look at the distribution across all qualifying Urza cards, we see roughly a bell curve with some extreme values that get flagged as being fiery or icy:</p>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-12.54.42 PM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-158713" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-12.54.42 PM.png" alt="" width="729" height="381" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-12.54.42 PM.png 848w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-12.54.42 PM-300x157.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-12.54.42 PM-768x401.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 729px) 100vw, 729px" /></a></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let's once again plot the relative time series graph, this time highlighting the identified fiery and icy cards. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We can see that these cards clearly have exhibited more extreme changes over the time period than the cards identified as stable:</span></p>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-1.02.44 PM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-158187" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-1.02.44 PM.png" alt="" width="891" height="411" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-1.02.44 PM.png 2284w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-1.02.44 PM-300x138.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-1.02.44 PM-1024x473.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-1.02.44 PM-768x354.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-1.02.44 PM-1536x709.png 1536w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-07-at-1.02.44 PM-2048x945.png 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 891px) 100vw, 891px" /></a></p>
<p>The following table shows which cards were identified as fiery and icy, along with their average weekly changes, extremeness score, and the number of decks they were played in over the six month time period.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Repurposing Bay" href="#" target="_blank">Repurposing Bay</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> takes the cake for fieriest card, with a Fire score of 5.85, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Etherium Sculptor" href="#" target="_blank">Etherium Sculptor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> as the iciest card, with an Ice score of -3.54.</p>
<p>The top four fieriest cards (<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Repurposing Bay" href="#" target="_blank">Repurposing Bay</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mistrise Village" href="#" target="_blank">Mistrise Village</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Unstoppable Plan" href="#" target="_blank">Unstoppable Plan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ugin, Eye of the Storms" href="#" target="_blank">Ugin, Eye of the Storms</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>) were released in the examined six-month period and were able to achieve high Fire Scores largely due to starting at 0% usage.</p>
<p>Not all newly released cards will show up as fiery if they aren't an obviously good fit for the given commander, but it is a good thing to be aware of.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Icy cards are often less explicable as we often see Commander staples showing up icy; this may be due to potential replacements coming on the scene or any of a number of other reasons. </span></p>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-1.45.05 PM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-158717" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-1.45.05 PM.png" alt="" width="1041" height="316" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-1.45.05 PM.png 1226w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-1.45.05 PM-300x91.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-1.45.05 PM-1024x311.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-1.45.05 PM-768x233.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px" /></a></p>
<h2>What to Expect in the <em>Fire and Ice</em> Series</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In <em>Fire and Ice</em>, we'll highlight commanders with intriguing fiery and icy cards </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">and comment on why we believe each card is trending up or down. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We will also provide the Fire and Ice score of each card discussed along with graphs of the relative weekly usage of each card over the specified time period.</span></p>
<p><strong>Starting today, you'll find brand new <em>Fire and Ice</em> articles out every Friday on EDHREC!</strong></p>


Introducing the Math Behind EDHREC's Fire and Ice Series

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fire / / Ice|MH2|290" href="#" target="_blank">Fire / / Ice</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | art by Dan Scott</h6>
<p>Hello, and welcome to <em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fire // Ice" href="#" target="_blank">Fire // Ice</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></em>, a brand new data-driven series where we'll go over some cards that are gaining and losing popularity in various Commander decks. I'm Julia, EDHREC's Duchess of Data.</p>
<p>Of course, EDHREC has a ton of data. Using that data, we'll draw some conclusions about how certain commander's decks are changing over time, give some insight into how the format's players are thinking about new cards, and maybe even give you some cool tech for your favorite commander's list.</p>
<p>With all that said, let's jump right into it.</p>
<p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/introducing-the-math-behind-edhrecs-fire-and-ice-series"><strong><em>For information on how we calculate the </em>Fire and Ice<em> Scores used in this article, check out this writeup.</em></strong></a></p>
<h1><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nekusar, the Mindrazer" href="#" target="_blank">Nekusar, the Mindrazer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h1>
<p>Nekusar is an absolute menace for EDH players. This deck churns out damage using its commander's abilities and can make short work of any tables that don't have a way to deal with him quickly.</p>
<p>Nekusar is all in on punishing its opponents for playing the game and is feared for good reason. Looking quickly at its most popular cards, we see that 61% of Nekusar decks are running <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Razorkin Needlehead" href="#" target="_blank">Razorkin Needlehead</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, 61% have <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dark Deal" href="#" target="_blank">Dark Deal</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and 61% contain <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Psychosis Crawler" href="#" target="_blank">Psychosis Crawler</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Razorkin Needlehead"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dark Deal"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Psychosis Crawler"></div></div>
<h2>What's Fiery for Nekusar Decks?</h2>
<p>Now that we've got a grasp on what Nekusar does, let's see what cards are trending up for these decks since January of this year.</p>
<p>Some new cards, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mistrise Village" href="#" target="_blank">Mistrise Village</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, slot really nicely into this deck. From <em>Tarkir: Dragonstorm</em>, it's actually the highest riser among all Nekusar decks, with a Fire Score of 5.77. After all, no one wants their spells countered when they're trying to group slug their way through a game.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mistrise Village"></div></div>
<p>But, beyond the new cards, there's some really interesting rising stars:</p>
<ul>
<li><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Reforge the Soul" href="#" target="_blank">Reforge the Soul</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, 2.44 Fire Score</li>
<li><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wheel of Misfortune" href="#" target="_blank">Wheel of Misfortune</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, 2.25 Fire Score</li>
<li><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Molten Psyche" href="#" target="_blank">Molten Psyche</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, 2.09 Fire Score</li>
</ul>
<p>These wheels all fit nicely into the deck's general group slug gameplan, so it's interesting to see that so many decks didn't have them included before.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Reforge the Soul"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wheel of Misfortune"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Molten Psyche"></div></div>
<p>Now, onto some more niche inclusions. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Liliana&#039;s Caress" href="#" target="_blank">Liliana&#039;s Caress</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has a high Fire Score of 2.54 This card pairs nicely with the wheels often included in Nekusar lists, and players have taken notice.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sigil of Sleep" href="#" target="_blank">Sigil of Sleep</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has been a big riser too, seeing a Fire Score of 2.13. This card comes to us all the way from 1999's <em>Urza's Destiny</em>, and can turn our commander's already-bothersome pings into game-ending removal, too.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Liliana&#039;s Caress"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sigil of Sleep"></div></div>
<h2>What's Icy for Nekusar Decks?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Seizan, Perverter of Truth"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phyrexian Tyranny"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fevered Visions"></div></div>
<p>And, if cards are finding their way into Nekusar lists, other cards have got to come out. While the cuts from these decks are varied, three cards lead the pack with big changes in deck inclusion rate.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Seizan, Perverter of Truth" href="#" target="_blank">Seizan, Perverter of Truth</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has a Ice Score of -3.58, the lowest score we'll see for this deck. This may be because of its mana cost: this card sits at the same slot in the curve as our commander.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phyrexian Tyranny" href="#" target="_blank">Phyrexian Tyranny</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has seen a big drop, too, with a slightly more extreme Ice Score of -3.45.While this card is good, its restrictive mana cost may be too much for deckbuilders to justify.</p>
<p>And, lastly, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fevered Visions" href="#" target="_blank">Fevered Visions</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has a -3.38 Ice Score.</p>
<p>Nekusar pilots may be looking for ways to deal more damage than just two-per-turn, possibly justifying this card's large percent change.</p>
<div class="mceTemp">
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.05.44 PM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-158720 aligncenter" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.05.44 PM.png" alt="" width="1375" height="435" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.05.44 PM.png 1758w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.05.44 PM-300x95.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.05.44 PM-1024x324.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.05.44 PM-768x243.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.05.44 PM-1536x486.png 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1375px) 100vw, 1375px" /></a></p>
<h2><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chatterfang, Squirrel General" href="#" target="_blank">Chatterfang, Squirrel General</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chatterfang, Squirrel General"></div></div>
<p>Chatterfang is another super popular commander, leading nearly 20,000 decks and finding himself as the 23rd most popular commander as of the time of writing.</p>
<p>We'll see some notoriously powerful cards gaining popularity here, as some cute on-theme cards fall out of favor. That said, let's see what we can find <em>squirrelled</em> away in Chatterfang's data.</p>
<p>For those of you who haven't had the chance to play against Chatterfang, the deck generally aims to fill the board with tokens and drain out its opponents with Aristocrats-themed win conditions.</p>
<p>Some popular cards for the deck include <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skullclamp" href="#" target="_blank">Skullclamp</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (73% of decks), <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zulaport Cutthroat" href="#" target="_blank">Zulaport Cutthroat</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (68% of decks), and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tireless Provisioner" href="#" target="_blank">Tireless Provisioner</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (64% of decks).</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Skullclamp"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Zulaport Cutthroat"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tireless Provisioner"></div></div>
<h2>What's Fiery for Chatterfang Decks?</h2>
<p>There's a few cards that have seen big rises in popularity, including eight cards that have seen big jumps in inclusion this year. Let's take a peek at some of the most interesting risers.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Warren Soultrader"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Diabolic Intent"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nature&#039;s Rhythm"></div></div>
<p>First up is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Warren Soultrader" href="#" target="_blank">Warren Soultrader</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, carrying a Fire Score of 3.64. This card fits right in with the deck's aristocrat and token themes, making it a great inclusion.</p>
<p>It's also got <a href="https://commanderspellbook.com/search/?q=card%3A%22Warren+Soultrader%22+ci%3Agolgari+legal%3Acommander">a huge number of combos that make use of it</a> within Chatterfang's black-green color identity.</p>
<p>Another popular addition is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Diabolic Intent" href="#" target="_blank">Diabolic Intent</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This card got a Fire Score of 2.64, and it does a pretty good impression of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Diabolic Tutor" href="#" target="_blank">Diabolic Tutor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in a deck with so many disposable creatures.</p>
<p>Last but not least is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nature&#039;s Rhythm" href="#" target="_blank">Nature&#039;s Rhythm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, another card from <em>Tarkir: Dragonstorm</em> that's found a home in one of the format's most popular decks. This card works great with the creature-heavy, graveyard-centric gameplan of the deck, so it's no surprise that it tops our list here with a Fire Score of 4.78.</p>
<h2>What's Icy for Chatterfang Decks?</h2>
<p>Quite a few cards have seen big drops in popularity, too, with nine cards seeing their inclusion rate drop by precipitously.</p>
<p>The card that left the most decks, by far, is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Squirrel Mob" href="#" target="_blank">Squirrel Mob</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> with a Ice Score of -4.39 (the lowest we'll see today). While this card is cool and thematic for players who'd like a Squirrel-centric build, paying for a large creature with no built-in evasion is much less appealing now than it has been in the past.</p>
<p>The same holds true for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Drey Keeper" href="#" target="_blank">Drey Keeper</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, a card that's got a Ice Score of -3.84. While this card is certainly flavorful, a higher casting cost and an expensive activated ability have likely taken this card out of contention for a slot in Chatterfang's army.</p>
<p>The last card that we'll touch on today is one that I wouldn't have expected to be on this list.</p>
<p>While <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Squirrel Sovereign" href="#" target="_blank">Squirrel Sovereign</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has a Ice Score of -3.74, I view it as a key role-player for <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/wotc-introduces-new-bracket-system-for-edh">lower bracket</a> Chatterfang lists. However, it's possible that it's being replaced by the popular (and consequently more expensive) Treasure-maker <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Warren Soultrader" href="#" target="_blank">Warren Soultrader</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, as demonstrated in the mirrored pattern of usage in the line graph below for these two cards.</p>
<p><a href="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.06.35 PM.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-158719" src="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.06.35 PM.png" alt="" width="1772" height="588" srcset="https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.06.35 PM.png 1772w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.06.35 PM-300x100.png 300w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.06.35 PM-1024x340.png 1024w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.06.35 PM-768x255.png 768w, https://edhrecstatic.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-10-at-2.06.35 PM-1536x510.png 1536w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1772px) 100vw, 1772px" /></a></p>
<h1>Until next time, Stay Cool (or Hot)!</h1>
<p>That's all we have for this week, but we'll be back soon with another edition of <em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fire // Ice" href="#" target="_blank">Fire // Ice</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></em>. For now, I'd love to hear from you. Let me know what commander's you'd like a data deep dive on in the comments below. I'll take a few of the most interesting picks and include them in the next installment in this series. Until then, happy brewing!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nekusar, the Mindrazer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chatterfang, Squirrel General"></div></div>
</div>


Fire and Ice: What Cards are Hot and Cold for July 2025?

Commander Philosophy - Is Sephiroth the Next Game Changer?

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Toxrill, the Corrosive|vow|321" href="#" target="_blank">Toxrill, the Corrosive</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Illustrated by <a href="https://www.arborcollective.com/pages/artist-dzo?srsltid=AfmBOoq88Htz5Kb_8wwnksTHKNVyZ5ZIJP9MCDiiKkz8h6Z72oQOd4tn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DZO</a></em></p>
<p>Every so often, a commander comes along that is so salt-inducing that players often refuse to play against it outright. Commanders like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Nadu, Winged Wisdom" href="#" target="_blank">Nadu, Winged Wisdom</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urza, Lord High Artificer" href="#" target="_blank">Urza, Lord High Artificer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> both spring to mind here.</p>
<p>Thankfully, <em>Wizards of the Coast</em> has relegated many of these commanders to the <a href="https://edhrec.com/top/game-changers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Game Changer list</a>. However, many still exist as lesser bogeymen to the format.</p>
<p>In today's article, I'll examine five salty commanders <em>not</em> on the Game Changer list and discern whether they're too salty to remain excluded.</p>
<h2>#5. Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant"></div></div>
<p>The antagonist of the <em>Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty</em> set, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant" href="#" target="_blank">Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a formidable and consistently frustrating commander to face off against. As such, it's #5 out of the most tilting non-Game Changer commanders in <a href="https://edhrec.com/top/salt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EDHREC's Salt Score Summary</a>.</p>
<p>However, it ranks just above the #5 saltiest Game Changer, Urza, Lord High Artificer. To be a saltier card than Urza feels like an invitation to join the Game Changer list all on its own.</p>
<h3><strong>Verdict: Deserves the Hate (For Its Rank)</strong></h3>
<p>Let's face facts here, dear reader. In <em>Magic: The Gathering</em>, players like to be able to make their plays and not be denied. Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant does not allow many players to play their game the way they want. In fact, the Praetor just allows one player, its controller, to accelerate their game.</p>
<p>Yes, he costs <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-5" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>. No, that is not insurmountable, even from the command zone, or even in lower brackets. Yes, his abilities only trigger once per turn. No, that doesn't stop those abilities from being oppressive.</p>
<p>However, all these factors firmly in mind, there are other cards that deserve the hate even more than Jin-Gitaxias, and they're all above them in rank. Plus, it's a bit of a steep hill to get to the #4 rank and above. Let's look at those cards!</p>
<h2>#4. Toxrill, the Corrosive</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Toxrill, the Corrosive"></div></div>
<p>The #4 saltiest non-Game Changer commander is, ironically, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Toxrill, the Corrosive" href="#" target="_blank">Toxrill, the Corrosive</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, a Slug.</p>
<p>Toxrill is relatively disgusting as a control card with a blue-black (Dimir) color identity. Capable of decimating entire boards of creatures within a turn cycle while propagating their own, the pod will often need to deal with a Toxrill player before Toxrill hits the battlefield.</p>
<p>What's more, Toxrill can turn many of those Slug tokens it makes into card advantage for very little investment.</p>
<h3>Verdict: Deserves the Hate (For Its Rank)</h3>
<p>The argument for Toxrill to remain as hated as it is comes from the notion that players can't keep a creature on the board for very long while the Slug Horror is in play.</p>
<p>Again, it boils down to players liking to make valid, impactful plays. There's a certain endorphin rush to making a big play in <em>Magic</em>, and to strip a player of that resolution is rough.</p>
<p>With a vast number of Commander decks running a decent number of creatures, those plays are often diminished by a timely (or persistent) board cleansing, such as in Toxrill's case.</p>
<h2>#3. Emrakul, the Promised End</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Emrakul, the Promised End"></div></div>
<p>Mama Emrakul is an important character in the <em>Magic</em> storyline, and players like to use their favorite characters to command their Commander decks. But is that enough to justify Emrakul's usage as a salty commander? Signs point to "no," dear readers.</p>
<p>Even with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Emrakul, the Promised End" href="#" target="_blank">Emrakul, the Promised End</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>'s restrictive colorless identity, an Emrakul pilot will often find ways to make the deck work, even potentially casting Emrakul for much less mana than she costs.</p>
<h3>Verdict: Doesn't Deserve the Hate</h3>
<p>Emrakul, the Promised End is a very strong colorless commander, but she doesn't deserve to be viewed as saltier than Game Changer commander options. The Eldrazi Titan that players should assess as a bigger threat is probably <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger" href="#" target="_blank">Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>Emrakul performs a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mindslaver" href="#" target="_blank">Mindslaver</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> operation on a player, yes, but if that player survives the turn, they get an extra turn to do reasonable amounts of damage control and even advance their board state further. That seems pretty fair for something so seemingly oppressive.</p>
<h2>#2. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sheoldred, the Apocalypse"></div></div>
<p>Sheoldred's second iteration, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sheoldred, the Apocalypse" href="#" target="_blank">Sheoldred, the Apocalypse</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, is a card that people malign, perhaps unfairly, partly due to her price. Similarly to how <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Meathook Massacre" href="#" target="_blank">The Meathook Massacre</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Beseech the Mirror" href="#" target="_blank">Beseech the Mirror</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> quickly spiked during preorders, Sheoldred shot up in price quickly even though <em>Dominaria United</em> was a widely printed Standard-legal set.</p>
<p>Since then, she's seen reprints in a variety of other Standard-legal set releases. Despite these, she is <em>still</em> exorbitantly expensive for the more casual or discerning Commander player! However, much of the reason she spiked was in her abilities, even more than her novelty as a Phyrexian Praetor.</p>
<p>Being able to reward doing normal things in a <em>Magic</em> game while punishing your opponents for doing the same is impactful. There's a reason players may sometimes rush to remove a copy of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Underworld Dreams" href="#" target="_blank">Underworld Dreams</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> that's affecting them after long enough. The same principle can apply to Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.</p>
<h3>Verdict: Deserves Less Hate Than It Gets</h3>
<p>Sheoldred's ability suite, while oppressive and punishing to natural gameplay, doesn't stop opponents from playing their game. Opponents staring down Sheoldred can still cast removal before their opponent has broken their matronly centipede commander. With cards like Urza and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grand Arbiter Augustin IV" href="#" target="_blank">Grand Arbiter Augustin IV</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in ranks near Sheoldred, it feels weird to lump her in with the rest of the salt.</p>
<p>This brings us to the #1 saltiest commander that isn't a Game Changer. What legendary creature has this distinction, and is it worthy of the hate that it receives? Let's look!</p>
<h2>#1 Saltiest Commander</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hokori, Dust Drinker"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hokori, Dust Drinker" href="#" target="_blank">Hokori, Dust Drinker</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is the single saltiest non-Game Changer legendary creature on EDHREC's Salt Score Summary. As a creature with a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Winter Orb" href="#" target="_blank">Winter Orb</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>-style effect, it can grind games down to a screeching halt. It's the 22nd-most salty card on the Salt Score Summary overall, and with an ability like it has, my final verdict on Hokori stands to reason.</p>
<h3>Verdict: Deserves the Hate It Gets, and More!</h3>
<p>If you've ever played against a Winter Orb, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Static Orb" href="#" target="_blank">Static Orb</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or any of the other variants of this kind of card, you'll know right away that Hokori, Dust Drinker needs to be focused on immediately.</p>
<p>Many of these kinds of effects are on the Game Changer list. Because of this fact, I don't anticipate that Hokori will stay off of that list for long. For now, though, let's all do our part and remove Hokori from the game as often as possible. And remember, player removal is also permanent removal!</p>
<p>So now, let's hear from you, dear readers. Do you think there are any saltier non-Game Changer commanders to look at in the future? How do you typically deal with such cards? And do you play with any of them yourself? Sound off below!</p>


opinion