The Planeswalker-Commanders of Commander 2018

Today, July 23rd kicks off spoiler season for the exciting new Commander 2018 decks! And it sure started with a bang; the 4 Planeswalker-Commanders were leaked this morning and caught on over at the magictcg subreddit. Let's dive in! 

Aminatou, the Fateshifter - WUB

Loyalty: 3

+1: Draw a card, then put a card from your hand on top of your library.

-1: Exile another target permanent you own, then return it to the battlefield under your control.

-6: Choose left or right. Each player gains control of all nonland permanents other than Aminatou, the Fateshifter controlled by the next player in the chosen direction.

Aminatou, the Fateshifter can be your commander.

You can find the images of the cards here as well if you want to see Aminatou, the Fateshifter's incredible art. Aminatou is the headliner of the Subjective Reality deck. The deck is supposed to be based on manipulating the top of your library and Aminatou does that very well. 3 mana planeswalkers are always interesting in all formats and having access to one as your Commander hasn't been seen before. The last iteration of Planeswalker-Commanders were all 4 or 5 or 6 mana. Aminatou's first ability is great card filtering when combined with fetchlands or other shuffle effects and can be used to hide tutor targets or Miracles back in the deck. Her minus is the real selling point though. Blinking another permanent you own is incredibly powerful when rebuying effects like Sun Titan or Mulldrifter, but this also has combo potential with Felidar Guardian and any card that does something beneficial when a creature comes into play. Cards like Altar of the Brood or Ajani's Welcome can mill everyone out at the table or gain infinite life. Aminatou's ultimate is one of the coolest ultimates out there. Swapping boards with your neighbor may not always be game winning but it will most of the time and it is a really novel effect. Aminatou is great. 

Lord Windgrace - 2BRG

Loyalty: 5

+2: Discard a card, then draw a card. If a land card is discarded this way, draw an additional card.

-3: Return up to 2 target land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield

-11: Destroy up to six target nonland permanents, then create six 2/2 green Cat Warrior creature tokens with forestwalk.

Lord Windgrace can be your commander.

Lord Windgrace is the 5 mana Commander for the Jund Land Matters deck, Nature's Vengeance. And oh boy, do lands matter with Lord Windgrace. He enters with 5 loyalty and his +2 is going to be similar to Tormenting Voice most of the time which is a solid effect that sets up his next ability. The -3 of reanimating two lands is really powerful as a ramp effect for the following turn and as a way to assemble different combos. The lands come into play untapped so something like Dark Depths-Thespian Stage is obviously incredible in the deck. The deck also works well with cards like Splendid Reclamation, Mending of Dominaria and World Shaper. The ultimate is the most powerful Violent Ultimatum every. Destroying six threats and making 12 Forestwalking power is going to warp a board and put you in position to win. The ultimate takes 4 turns with Lord Windgrace in play so it may be easier to try to use his minus repeatedly, which makes me think his ultimate will not come up very often but its a great plan B if reanimating lands doesn't make sense.

Estrid, the Masked - 1GWU

Loyalty: 3

+2: Untap each enchanted permanent you control.

-1: Create a white Aura enchantment token named Mask attached to another target permanent. The token has enchant permanent and totem armor.

-7: Put the top seven cards of your library into your graveyard. Return all non-Aura enchantment cards from your graveyard to the battlefield, then do the same for Aura cards.

Estrid, the Masked can be your commander.

Estrid, the Masked is the 4 mana Commander of the Bant Adaptive Enchantment deck. Estrid's enters with 3 loyalty and her +2 is the most appealing and open ended of her abilities. Estrid combos incredibly well with cards like Utopia Spawl and Wild Growth to give you the ability to untap 2 mana producing lands. She can also pair with The Chain Veil and a few enchanted lands to go infinite on untaps for your enchanted permanents. It is not as clean as Felidar Guardian with Aminatou but wins a lot of the time. Her -1 sets up things to untap with her +2 and protects them in the meanwhile. Totem Armor is pretty good protection, only get hit by exile or bounce effects. Her -7 is really splashy and a cool Replenish effect which will usually give a huge bonus. Estrid kind of does it all, she has ramp potential, combo potential, can protect valuable permanents if she can't stick around the board and has a splashy Ultimate. 

Saheeli, the Gifted - 2UR

Loyalty: 4

+1: Create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature token.

+1: The next spell you cast this turn costs 1 less to cast for each artifact you control as you cast it.

-7: For each artifact you control, creature a token that's a copy of it. Those tokens gain haste. Exile those tokens at the beginning of the next end step.

Saheeli, the Gifted can be your commander.

Saheeli, the Gifted is the 4 mana Commander in the Exquisite Invention deck. Saheeli starts at 4 loyalty and can make a 1/1 blocker for her +1. Her other +1 is much more exciting; she basically gives your next spell Affinity. This can allow some insane plays the turn after you untap with Saheeli. Later in the game, you can even +1 her and cast a spell for free if you have the artifact count. Myr Battlesphere is a match made in heaven with Saheeli, alongside countless other great artifact cards. Her -7 is a really neat and may not always win the game when it happens but will generally give you a huge board for a turn and a bunch of enter-the-battlefield effects. Saheeli is a really great artifact commander and seems like the most powerful Planeswalker of the 4 but the others aren't far behind. 

Do you disagree with our claim that Saheeli is the most powerful of the Commanders? Let us know in the comments!