Carnage, Crimson ChaosCarnage, Crimson Chaos | Art by Lordigan

Hello, everyone, my name is Jonathan and today I'm going over the best new cards with the mayhem ability coming from Marvel's Spider-Man!

But, what does mayhem actually do? Well, precisely this:

You may play this card from your graveyard if you discarded it this turn. Timing rules still apply.

This ability resembles madness, but with some major differences. While madness forces the player to immediately decide whether to cast the discarded card or not, mayhem grants this possibility until the end of the turn.

The older mechanic allows you to ignore timing restrictions, while the new iteration explicitly tells you they still apply.

For example, if you were to discard a Kitchen ImpKitchen Imp on an opponent's end step, you would still be able to cast it for its madness cost. The same doesn't apply to Spider-IslandersSpider-Islanders, which, due to timing restrictions, can only be cast at any time the player could cast a creature spell.

Now, with all of these distinctions out of the way, let's dive into the best mayhem cards, listed in no particular order.

#1 - Chameleon, Master of DisguiseChameleon, Master of Disguise

This card doesn't particularly shine on its own. All in all, we've now reached a point in time where we have quite a few clone options available at two mana. Flesh DuplicateFlesh Duplicate, Imposter MechImposter Mech and Phantasmal ImagePhantasmal Image are all great options that overcome their downsides thanks to their extremely low casting cost.

In addition to this, if we expand our criteria to include three-mana clones, we also have to take into account Glasspool MimicGlasspool Mimic, Mirror ImageMirror Image, and, functionally, Phyrexian MetamorphPhyrexian Metamorph.

And don't even get me started on four-mana clones.

So, what makes ChameleonChameleon so special? Well, none of them can clone your commander without having to sacrifice either of them due to the Legend rule. This card, instead, changes the name of the creature it copies to its own, exploiting a small loophole that effectively allows us to play an additional copy of our commander, or any other legend.

Now then, what can we do with this? My first thought was the insane amount of value it can generate when paired with Hashaton, Scarab's FistHashaton, Scarab's Fist.

I know it would be quite mana intensive, but picture this: You discard ChameleonChameleon, you copy it, thanks to HashatonHashaton's ability and you later cast the original ChameleonChameleon from your graveyard for its mayhem cost.

This play can net you two copies of whatever creature you control but, most importantly, it can generate two additional copies of your commander. Now, whenever you discard a creature card, you can pay three, six or nine mana to produce one, two or three copies of that same creature.

I know this requires a huge quantity of mana, but just imagine the impact of creating three copies of Archon of CrueltyArchon of Cruelty for only nine mana. Otherwise, you'll be sitting on a triple version of your general, meaning your opponents will likely have to spend three times as many interaction spells to clear all of them.

This is only the first idea I've come up with, but truly any commander that can benefit from being copied should at least consider this card. Of course, having access to reliable discard engines is a must (for there would be better four-mana clones otherwise). But, if that's the case, then you should be looking at ChameleonChameleon.

#2 - Swarm, Being of BeesSwarm, Being of Bees

What intrigues me about this card is the combination of an actual low mana cost and the ability to cast it at instant speed. On its own, this is a very underwhelming card, if not outright unplayable: a 2/2 flyer with no additional abilities is nothing shy of abysmal.

And yet, I think this mana value/ability combination works fine enough to create a niche for it under the lead of Celes, Rune KnightCeles, Rune Knight. On its own, Swarm, Being of BeesSwarm, Being of Bees could be a surprise blocker that can slightly mess up an opponent's combat step.

But, if we pair it with this commander, not only will it be an additional body on the board, it'll also pump all of our creatures, drastically changing the scenario for them.

Now, is this a game-breaking interaction? Not at all; in the end, it's somewhat resemblant of a surprise Cathars' CrusadeCathars' Crusade trigger: annoying, but not lethal.

Still, I think this interaction is worth a consideration, allowing Swarm, Being of BeesSwarm, Being of Bees to be a well-positioned piece inside a powerful engine.

Number Three: Carnage, Crimson ChaosCarnage, Crimson Chaos

This is the first card I'm also open to consider as a viable commander. While at first it won't be possible to take advantage of its mayhem ability, once we deploy it, we can let it go to the graveyard to later return it to our hand in a variety of ways.

Once we've reached this scenario, it'll cost two mana as long as we're able to discard it and return it to our hand when it dies.

Sadly, its effect doesn't bring much to the table, as it only brings back a small creature which we're almost guaranteed to lose at the first combat step. So, aside from some aristocrat-like interactions, it doesn't particularly shine.

Still, I want to highlight how it continuously feeds itself. Assuming we've entered the loop mentioned above, each time CarnageCarnage hits the board, we'll be able to recur that same creature we're losing during each combat step.

While this still isn't much, at least it's something going for it.

Nonetheless, I think this card could have a home in the 99 of many decks that want to reanimate multiple small creatures over and over again. Just like before, Celes, Rune KnightCeles, Rune Knight is the perfect example of such a deck. When paired with this commander, a CarnageCarnage cast for its mayhem cost is going to bring two creatures to the table and give a +2/+2 pump to your whole board.

Additionally, it still feeds itself and can execute the loops mentioned before just as if it was our commander.

In conclusion, while I'm a bit skeptical about its potential as a commander, there might be space for a small reanimator build, perhaps lead by CelesCeles and centered around bringing back low-mana value creatures also thanks to cards like Return TriumphantReturn Triumphant.

#4 - Ultimate Green GoblinUltimate Green Goblin

I'm still not 100% sure about how to feel regarding this card.

On one hand, it offers the player a free discard outlet on each of their upkeeps. Additionally, it basically duplicates their land drop thanks to its Treasure generating ability. This seems to make it fit snuggly into every reanimator strategy, both as a commander and in the 99, provided that it can also reanimate itself.

In particular, if we play it as our general, it has the potential for very early blowout moves, such as turn-one deployment thanks to Dark RitualDark Ritual followed by a [/el]Reanimate[/el] on turn two.

On the other hand, I'm not convinced about its playability if we don't have access to a stacked hand. In fact, it's crucial to notice how this card, at best, crystallizes our hand size.

In other words, if we play it with four cards in hand, at the beginning of the following upkeep we'll discard down to three, and we'll go back up to four during the draw step. So, even though we don't cast any spell, we're not gaining resources in our hand.

Even worse, if we do play cards from our hand (something we're quite likely to do), then we're definitely hurting ourselves with card disadvantage.

All in all, Ultimate Green GoblinUltimate Green Goblin is somewhat difficult to evaluate or, at the very least, to play properly. Both as a commander and in the 99, this isn't a card we want to slam onto the battlefield whenever we have the occasion to.

Instead, we want to deploy it after having crafted a hand that can support it, making sure we're going to benefit from its forced discard ability. Also, we should be prepared to either remove it ourselves if it's hurting us, or to have it stay in play for multiple turns without falling too far behind.

That's all from me for now! Let me know in the comments which mayhem cards you're looking forward to playing with the most, and also tell me if you've already thought about which decks will benefit the most from them.

I'll see you next time with another article!

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