The Best Brawl Commanders in Core Set 2019
It was almost nine years ago when a friend of mine asked me if I want to play Magic: the Gathering again. For some reason, I said yes. We bought a booster box and cracked 18 packs each. I had a great time so a few days after I went ahead and bought another box. It was Magic 2010. Ever since then, the game became a significant part of my life and had more impact than it had before.
Core Sets will always be near and dear to my heart. You can imagine how happy I am when they announced the return of Core Sets. Core Set 2019 will be released very soon, and just like the rest of you, I can't wait to get my hands on it.
I picked out ten of my favorite Brawl Commanders and ranked them according to my personal preference. If you have a list of your own, feel free to share yours in the comment section below! I look forward to hearing from all of you! =)
A 3/3 Human Knight for six mana may not present the most exciting stats by any means, but the creature type "Knight" is well supported right now. Lena's triggered ability has the potential to generate a ton of 1/1 soldier tokens, which of course may depend on your current board.
The best part of Lena, Selfless Champion is that it protects your board. After sacrificing it, you can always recast it again to generate more tokens and protect them once more. This unique interaction is great against any deck who does not have mass removal. Even if they do, you have a way to protect your board because Lena is always happy to heroically sacrifice herself again.
9. Vivien Reid
The new green planeswalker is as balanced as it could be. It's decent, costing just five mana and starting out with five loyalty. Her +1 ability is not technically a "draw" effect but at times may feel like one. Moreover, you're digging deep into your deck by looking at the top four cards, so you get a better chance at finding what you need.
Her -3 ability reminds me of one of my favorite commanders, Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury. They have the same effect as far as the minus ability goes, but Vivien Reid somehow feels like an upgrade since it can take down a creature with flying.
8 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
Ramping into big fatties is what a green mage does best!
Now, we have a legendary creature that reduces the casting cost of 4 or more powered creatures, not to mention its triggered ability. Sounds great, right? There's a good number of big creatures that just can't go through because it doesn't have trample. Goreclaw's attack trigger indeed solves that problem and giving +1/+1 until end of turn to each 4 or more powered creatures is adding more to a potentially lethal attack.
7. Sarkhan, Dragonsoul
Sarkhan, Dragonsoul can be found in the Planeswalker deck rather than Core Set 2019 boosters. The dragon master is back, which makes sense because Core Set 2019 showcases a lot of dragons. This red planeswalker is what I would consider as a double-edged sword. In a multi-player format, effects with the words "each opponent" would typically give the controller of it a huge target on his/her back and this card is no different.
It's like having Goblin Chainwhirler's ability on a planeswalker. Although it doesn't deal damage to planeswalkers your opponents control, the +2 ability can impact the board as soon as it resolves and the -3 ability can kill a creature or even a planeswalker.
6. Tezzeret, Artifice Master
You'll notice that the design of the Core Set 2019 planeswalkers is not as game-breaking as compared to the other planeswalkers from recent sets. But, that doesn't mean they are not powerful.
Tezzeret's ability to create a 1/1 Thopter with flying may not be the most impressive, but the ability to draw a card from one of its loyalty ability with a possibility of drawing two cards is pretty cool. The biggest problem with Tezzeret, Artifice Master is that it competes with The Scarab God directly, but if you're a fan of artifacts, this Commander will allow you to build your deck in an entirely different direction.
5. Sai, Master Thopterist
Sai's ability to create tokens generates a lot of value. The dream is to create an army of Thopters and soar through the skies while protecting them. If your opponent tries to kill them, cash two tokens in for a card and keep up the pressure. There is a massive incentive in making sure there are plenty of artifacts and remember that Vehicles go very well together with your game plan.
You can crew Aethersphere Harvester, Ovalchase Dragster, Sleek Schooner, and Sky Skiff with just a Thopter token, and there are several other high-quality vehicles such as Heart of Kiran, Cultivator's Caravan, and Fleetwheel Cruiser. Protect these guys with counterspells and you should be good to go.
Finally, a defender tribal lord!
It is probably excellent in Commander but not so much in Brawl. There are very few defenders in Standard to fully utilize Arcades. Arcades, the Strategist was immediately compared to Doran, the Siege Tower for obvious reason but, despite restrictions, I believe Arcades, the Strategist is better because of its triggered ability.
We all love to draw some cards, right? And when the walls start swinging, you better start running.
3 Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire
This one is my favorite among the Elder Dragons from Core Set 2019" because it's very random, making it tons of fun. Vaevictis Asmadi's triggered ability would bring chaos to the table, especially if in multiplayer Brawl.
The idea is to choose your opponent's best permanent and then your "not so good" permanent. Each player would be praying to the gods and hoping for the variance to be in their favor, making the game tons of fun and full of laughs!
2. Chromium, the Mutable
Chromium, the Mutable is an interesting one. It can't be countered, has flash and flying, three excellent abilities. It dodges removal spells and allows you to play a three-color Brawl deck with the best Esper Control cards in the format.
You'll be able to build an Esper Control deck rather easily, starting with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Cast Out, Ixalan's Binding, Seal Away, Supreme Will, Essence Scatter, Negate, Censor, Vraska's Contempt, Cast Down, The Scarab God, all the top cards in the format!
One of the best Brawl Commanders only edged out by...
1. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Did you guess it right? As the only transforming planeswalker in Core Set 2019, it's not only the flashiest but also the most powerful. Once this enters the battlefield, each of your opponents discards a card, which makes it a real contender in multiplayer games.
If your opponent kills it, you can simply recast it and have them discard more cards. And if they don't kill it, they're just waiting for a powerful planeswalker to terrorize the board!
There you go fellow Brawlers, my Top 10 list of Core Set 2019 Brawl Commanders. I'll brew decks for some of them. Again, feel free to let us know what you think about my list, or you can share your list as well by leaving a comment below.
By the way, how was your Prerelease last weekend? Are you ready to brew M19 inspired brawl decks?
Regards,
Felix Capule
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