With the release of Theros,  five new  commanders loom head and shoulders above others in regards to the impact and potential they can bring to the table in the commander format. Today I will be looking through these potential commander candidates and the impact they could have as the general or as a member of the 99 and the validity in their inclusion as well as possible cards to combine them with for best results. Without further ado let’s dive in.

 

Heliod, God of The Sun

 

Heliod grants one of the best creature abilities when it comes to multiplayer and commander, Vigilance is amazing as being able to expend attackers and not leave yourself vulnerable is important when dealing with multiple opponents. As a commander Heliod provides a moderately sized creature when devotion is achieved and acts as a mana sink allowing you pump out a token swarm for offensive or defensive purposes. The tribal cleric nature of the token and the fact that they are enchantment tokens can also be abused. In the ninety nine Heliod provides relatively important keyword ability to your creatures and gives token decks a way to keep streaming out tokens post board wipes. Overall a decent commander for mono white decks that can be taken in quite a few directions.

Possible Card Inclusions: Spear of Heliod, Light From Within,???

 

Thassa, God of the Sea

Next up is Thassa the cheapest mana cost wise of all the gods at three mana. Scry 1 may not seem like the best investment but being an indestructible permanent means you can get a lot of mileage out of this ability, it allows you to insure that you hit your land drops or dig deeper for needed cards. The ability to make a creature you control unblockable is fantastic and as a commander it lends itself to an aggressive blue strategy and being a 5/5 if you activate devotion it’s extremely easy to suit this up with enchantments and equipment and win via unblockable general damage. As a member of the 99 it smooth’s out your draws and can make your finishers unblockable if you’re not going a full aggro strategy. The same decks wanting to make use of Sun Quan Lord of Wu are the decks that would be best served using this as a commander or in the main. The downside is that blue devotion compared to the other gods is a bit harder to achieve and may take a while to pick up steam.

Possible Card Inclusions: Cephalid Constable, Rootwater Thief, Coastal Piracy

Erebos, God of the Dead

Ignore everything about this card minus its activated ability. A 5/7 body has nice defensive stats and shutting down opposing opponents life gain is less relevant in a format where 21 general damage is enough to kill players. The real exciting part of this card is having your general be the card Greed! Costing one more mana you can keep a steady supply of cards coming your way and when you start with 40 life your ability to draw cards is magnified. Building around this general could take some work as it mostly acts as a mono black control general as it gives you card advantage and sits perfectly at the helm of good stuff mono black control decks but he does compete with some other powerful options. As a member of the 99 any deck that is looking to use its life total as a resource is bound to utilize an indestructible Greed. Aside from these applications this is one of the most straightforward of the gods allowing you to trade your excess life for more power proving your devotion to the dark side.

Possible Card Inclusions: Maga traitor to mortals, Exsanguinate, Whip of Erebos

 

Purphoros, God of the Forge

By far the strongest and most aggressive god card being able to hit each of your opponents with a shock when a creature enters the battlefield under your control adds up extremely quickly and can take multiple opponents out without even having to attack. The secondary ability is useful once you have summonsed a swarm of creatures and is a useful mana sink. This as a commander lends itself to goblin or token based builds something extremely aggressive, it also could allow you to play more defensive creatures such as walls and sit back shocking opponents when playing defensive creatures and pumping to deter attackers. As a member of the 99 it is great in token builds and any deck running a fair amount of creatures. A 6/5 body also makes for an aggressive general. This is by far the strongest general in multiplayer commander and a solid inclusion in quite a few decks running red.

Possible Card Inclusions: Kiki Jiki Mirror Breaker, Goblin Offensive, Furnace of Wrath

 

Nylea, God of the Hunt

This general is well compared to the others let’s say mildly disappointing, a massive mana sink that allows you to pump all your excess green mana into pumping up a creature it also grants your team trample which can be quite powerful. Mono green decks have a wide range of possible options and this creature I don’t feel does enough to justify its position as a commander in the format it can’t grant itself trample but when devotion is activated and in green it is quite easy to activate, it can pump itself to quite handedly kill with general damage. As a member of the 99 this card is golden in decks like Stonebrow and any deck looking to power out huge fatties. Overall this is a disappointing general but still has some considerable applications for the format.

Possible Card Inclusions: Primalcrux, Boundless Realms, Pelakka Wurm

 

Well I hope you enjoyed this brief look at the new deities of the commander format stay tuned for more commander related content soon-ish. Once again feel free to email your constructive criticism, ideas for articles and whether you agree or disagree with my assessments at PlatinumFUBU5@hotmail.com