10 Commander Deckbuilding Tips for War of the Spark

War of the Spark release is coming soon! Are you ready to update all of your Commander decks with the new set? I know I am! WAR is a dream set for Commander and it really got my mind going, so I jotted down some of my favorite possibilities opened up by new cards.

Scroll Rack /Time Warp / God-Eternal Kefnet

God-Eternal Kefnet is a really cool commander that will be annoying to get rid of and will kill you if you don't. Kefnet looks explosive on its face but it can take of all the turns with just one turn of an undisturbed Zombie God. How does it do this? You need a Time Warp effect on top of your deck and a Scroll Rack. You reveal Time Warp to Kefnet's ability, get the extra turn, use Scroll Rack to put the Time Warp back on top of the deck and now you do that forever and murder everyone with a 4/5 flying beatstick. This iteration of the combo only takes four (4!!!) mana, and can be set up partially by many different popular blue cards like Mystical Tutor, Brainstorm or Jace, the Mind Sculptor.

If you want to play Kefnet in Brawl or just want extra combo pieces, you can also play Riverwise Augur and Karn's Temporal Sundering to set up a similar albeit more expensive version of the loop. That iteration takes 8 total mana, which isn't ideal but they are extra pieces to the combo and Karn's Temporal Sundering still works in the Scroll Rack version of the combo. Seems neat. 

Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and Leveler

This combo is pretty straightforward, play Leveler with Jace in play and then plus Jace, you win. This is similar to the Lab Maniac combo but impervious to removal like Swords to Plowshares and doesn't need to use a draw spell. Jace adds redundancy in Laboratory Maniac decks while doing something if you aren't comboing. LabMan is just a 2/2, so that is a huge leg up. 

Necrotic Ooze, Devoted Druid, Soul Diviner

If Necrotic Ooze gains the activated abilities of Devoted Druid and Soul Diviner, you can tap it for a green mana, and then add a -1/-1 counter to untap. Now you can use the Soul Diviner ability to remove the counter and draw a card. Add a -1/-1 counter to untap again and then you're drawing your deck. If you wanted to add more protection and haste to the combo, you can also dump Thornling into your graveyard. Druid, Diviner and Thornling are a tidy package for Buried Alive and are all reasonable on their own. Sultai decks already do graveyard things very well, but this combo adds one more potential avenue.  

Flux Channeler and Pentad Prism Combo 

This "combo" isn't game winning on it's own but it is an incredibly powerful mana engine that could potentially drive you to draw your whole deck. The interaction is having Flux Channeler and Pentad Prism with at least two counters on it, and a ton of zero or one mana cantrips in your deck. Your one mana cantrips like Ponder or Preordain are mana neutral and keep digging you. Zero drop artifacts even add a mana, making Mox Opal basically Mana Crypt when you draw it. I am not sure what the best home is for this combo; my first thought would be in Sai, Master Thopterist but if you think of a better home, let me know in the comments!  

Karn, the Great Creator and Mycosynth Lattice

Karn, the Great Creator is great (see what I did there). This is the ol' 1 card combo. Karn's wish ability is really powerful if you use a sideboard. Not only is he  a tutor effect, Karn has a built in Stony Silence effect that only hits opponents, which is very handy with Mycosynth Lattice. Lattice and Karn make all of your opponents locked out of tapping any of their permanents for mana, aka locked out of the game. This is legal in any Commander deck, which worries me but hopefully Karn won't destroy the format.  

Ugin's Conjurent and Celestial Kirin

This one isn't a game winning combo but it is as flexible as you want it to be. Notice Celestial Kirin says "permanents," which means lands! If you want to, you can play Kirin and then Ugin's Conjurent to Armageddon everyone. If that isn't what you want to do, you can do it for any amount to destroy everything of that cost. This is a really powerful combo that is also very flexible. Definitely one to keep an eye on. 

Silverclad Ferocidons and Mayhem Devil

This combo is a bit goofy but also really fun if you get it going. Silverclad Ferocidons makes each opponent sacrifice a permanent when he is enraged. Mayhem Devil deals 1 damage when a player sacrifices a permanent. Once you get the Ferocidons going, Devil can hit him 3 more times without killing him. If you find a way to give the Ferocidons indestructibility, you can do it infinitely and make your foes sacrifice their whole board and Mayhem Devil pings will definitely kill at least 1 player. When using this combo, use extraneous Devil triggers to ping their small dinky creatures so they have to sacrifice their good stuff. 

Ilharg, the Raze-Boar and Dragon Mage

The Pig God is our Commander version of Through the Breach, which is a pretty good card I've heard. Ilharg is terrifying if given haste, which a mono-red deck can do easily. Ilharg doesn't synergize with triggers like Scourge of the Throne or Inferno Titan because they are already tapped and attacking when they get cheated into play. Dragon Mage is great with Ilharg if it can connect as it will return to your hand at the end step, letting you put it back into play the next turn to Wheel of Fortune again. 

Ilharg is even hard to deal with, his ability to tuck back into the deck if you want is great if his cost gets too expensive after he dies a few times. If you do put him back in your deck, he can get shuffled away, so be careful with that! 

Price of Betrayal

This card isn't involved in any combos but I still wanted to mention it. This card does a lot of unique albeit narrow things that are all useful in Commander. Price is a great answer to planeswalkers with five or less loyalty for 1 mana. It can remove experience counters from pesky Meren of Clan Nel Toth or Mizzix of the Izmagnus players. It can remove Infect counters from yourself or an ally for political purposes. It can even remove +1/+1 counters or -1/-1 counters; the card is a powerful answer to many different things in the format and I have a hard time seeing it be dead for an entire game. 

Three Mana Planeswalkers

The three mana planeswalkers in War of the Spark are powerful, these are just a few of my favorites. Narset, Parter of Veils can be a non-creature Spirit of the Labyrinth that can give you a narrow Impulse for two turns. I'm interested in the lock piece aspect of it more than it drawing cards, so if you're deck isn't loaded with hits for Narset, I could see not activating Narset at all and keeping her at a cushy 5 loyalty.

Ashiok, Dream Render is another type of lock piece that is powerful in Commander, they are a Mindlock Orb and a graveyard hate effect. Again, Ashiok hits opponents with the search lock and graveyard exile, so no detriment to you. Ashiok can even aid your graveyard if you target yourself with the minus ability. 

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds adds another Yeva, Nature's Herald style effect, which is very welcome. Decks that play Yeva always want more copies of it, and even if they don't, Vivien is better than Yeva. The planeswalker can draw cards instead of being a 4/4 body, which is a huge improvement. Don't sleep on this one. 

And that wraps up my War of the Spark Commander Deckbuilding Tips and Tidbits!