Lathril, Blade of the ElvesLathril, Blade of the Elves | Art by Caroline Gariba

Hello, friends. And welcome to The Sweet Spot, with Roman. This isn't so much of a series, per se, as it is a particular kind of article that I like to write. These articles are rare and often outside of my control, but when they come about, you can be sure that I'll be writing about them.

A Sweet Spot is a term that my oldest friend and I have for any time two of our own interests converge in an unexpected and delightful way. For example, when a pinball machine comes out about wrestling, that's a sweet spot for me. When a ska band plays at a soccer match, that's a sweet spot for me. When a Magic set based on Fallout comes out, that's a sweet spot for me.

In fact, Universes Beyond sets are more or less just Wizards of the Coast weaponizing the Sweet Spot Theory to enormous profit (which technically makes my article about what cards I wanted to see reprinted for Avatar a retroactive entry in The Sweet Spot).

A Sweet Spot if often a delightful thing, and the more unpredictable it is, the better it makes you feel. So the other day when The Command Zone graced my YouTube homepage with a thumbnail featuring iconic drag queens Irene, the Alien, and Bosco set to play a game of Commander with Jimmy and Josh Lee Kwai, the resultant Sweet Spot swung for 9,999swung for 9,999.

I've been a fan of drag for quite some time now, and immediately my mind began to race with one single question:

What Commanders Would Other Iconic Drag Queens Play?

This is where I'd love to describe to you the criteria I used to match these queens to their commanders. But honestly, it was a fairly disparate endeavor. Some I matched on the lore. Some I matched on mechanics. Some I matched just on how it feels to be sitting at a commander table and see that card enter the battlefield.

But rest assured that every singe one of these is inarguably correct.

Rupaul - Korvold, Fae-Cursed KingKorvold, Fae-Cursed King (Rupaul, Fae-Blessed Queen)

Rupaul debuted on her first tv show in 1982. That's 43 years ago. She's still putting out hit songs. She hosts one of the most culturally relevant tv shows on the air. And she still looks and moves great. How does she do this? It's simple. She's sacrificing early eliminated queens to give herself eternal life. It's literally the only possible explanation*. And this makes her a perfect 1 to 1 match for Korvold, Fae-Cursed KingKorvold, Fae-Cursed King.

Furthermore, the penchant Korvold players have for creating and sacrificing innumerable treasure tokens aligns pretty well with a queen who's known to dip a cheeky toe into things like fracking from time to time.

*As an aside, I fully believe that the times we see her wearing those strange face masks are because she's still absorbing the life force of a younger queen. Like in the Season 12 finale of Rupal's Drag Race, when she wore that gigantic mask to hide the fact that if she took it off, she would look uncannily like Dahlia Sin.

Lydia B. Kollins - Krenko, Mob BossKrenko, Mob Boss (Kollins, Lydia B.)

The recent, meteoric rise of Lydia B. Kollins is a perfect parallel for Krenko. Because your first time playing with Krenko, you read his text and go, "Oh, ok. That's cool. That'll be something to keep an eye on." And then you look down to organize your hand and when you look back up there's a screeching horde of 92 Goblins bearing down on you.

It's exactly the same for Lydia. She impressed on her initial run in Season 17 of Rupal's Drag Race with her self-constructed looks that mixed glamour with a twisted sense of humor in a way that invoked legends like Yvie Oddly or Crystal Methyd. But when she appeared again immediately on All Stars 10, just months later, it seemed like she had been maturing in her art for years.

She blew away the competition en route to an extremely well-earned third place finish.

Also, I think it's worth noting, I bet Lydia could do a lot with a Goblin-inspired aesthetic. If I could pitch a YouTube show where drag queens played Commander and dressed on theme for their decks, this is one episode I would absolutely want to see.

Mistress Isabelle Brooks - Massacre Girl, Known KillerMassacre Girl, Known Killer (Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Shady Era)

Mistress Isabelle Brooks is widely known as a confrontational and shady queen who will connive and provoke until she gets her way. As such, this might be the most accurate mechanical match on this list. Let me break it down for you:

Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, if its toughness was less than 1, draw a card: Mistress Isabelle Brooks has an uncanny ability to turn other queens into the worst versions of themselves. She simply wears them down until they can barely perform. And it seems like the more she wears them down, the stronger she gets.

Creatures you control have wither: Mistress can grant her ability to other queens within her orbit! Her heel run on All Stars 10 was made all the better by her corruption of Jorgeous** into her willing minion.

Menace: If you try to take on Mistress by yourself, you will absolutely lose.

**Unfortunately, I do not have a commander for Jorgeous. However, I will use this opportunity to make the following joke: "Sisterrr, I'm Paul Cheon circa 2007")

Violet Chachki - Lathril, Blade of the ElvesLathril, Blade of the Elves (Violet Chachki, Paragon of the Fashion Queens)

Ok, this one's easy. First of all, just look at LathrilLathril. Seriously, just LOOK AT HER. That snatched waist? That flowing cape? That whole image is practically a tracing of Violet Chachki's iconic tartan reveal from Drag Race Season 7.

Not only that, but in my opinion, she's one of the ur-fashion queens on Drag Race. In the same way that Lathril makes Elves when she deals combat damage, it seemed like every time she stepped on the runway, she inspired another legion of future fashion queens. We can see her influence all over modern Drag Race.

When we look at notably fashionable queens like Gigi Goode, Marmalade, Blair St. Clair (All Stars version), and of course frequent collaborater Gottmik, we can easily see Violet's influence. I believe that Bosco's much lauded casket look on All Stars 10 simply wouldn't have been as incredible if it didn't remind us just a little bit of Chachki's iconic snatched waist from the Death Becomes Her runway.

Luxx Noir London - Muldrotha, the GravetideMuldrotha, the Gravetide (Luxx, the Pastweaver)

Ok, so, another clear visual match here. Tell me you couldn't see fashion savant Luxx Noir London serving this Muldrotha lookthis Muldrotha look. She would absolutely destroy a runway in that gown in the same way that Muldrotha herself is destroying those ships.

The other reason Luxx is a clear Muldrotha is her obsession with Drag Race herstory. Nobody makes better use of the previously discarded than Luxx. Half of her lines on the show were quotes from past episodes. And she wore not one, but two historic Rupaul looks on the runway.

When she came out dressed like Rupaul from her not well known '80s punk band Wee Wee Pole, she may as well have dug up that look from the graveyard.

Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamolodchikova - Rin and Seri, InseparableRin and Seri, Inseparable (Trixie and Katya, Inserparable)

When we talk about icons in the world of Drag, Trixie and Katya absolutely have to be in the discussion. They're easily two of the most famous queens to have ever competed on Drag Race. And through their stage shows, podcasts, YouTube show, and everything else, they're simply everywhere.

Maybe the primary reason they align with Rin and SeriRin and Seri is that along the way, they've picked up an enormous horde of ravenous fans (myself included). They're two of the three most-followed Drag Race queens on Instagram. And through the aforementioned projects (as well as Trixie's slew of other solo projects), they haven't really needed to interface with the Drag Race ecosystem at all since their time on the show nearly ten years ago.

If you've ever played at a table with a Rin and Seri, you know that building up a large enough pool of tokens that you can disconnect from the actions of your fellow players, and even many of the foundational mechanics of Magic itself, is exactly the game plan they're looking for.

Gia Gunn - Arabella, Abandoned DollArabella, Abandoned Doll (Gia Gunn, Queen of the Dolls)

What else can I say except, "At this point Trix, the dolls are the dolls."