This article was written before the announcement surrounding the latest Commander changes, the banning of Emrakul and changing of color identity rules. -- Trick

Hello Nation! Well, there have been a lot of changes announced for EDH…er…I mean…Commander! Talking about the format has been in a lot of articles recently. It seems like a good time to talk about the format here.

As someone who has played both online and offline versions of the format, I have a healthy enjoyment of it. Is it my favorite format of all time? Nope. But it's easily one of them. I probably played it more online in the last year than real life. It's interesting with pickup games of random players. If you play it in duels, the people I run into try to abuse the format. Multiplayer is where it's at online.

In homage to the recent events, let's write a few articles on the format! Today's article is about the H in EDH. Highlander! It's about finding cards that give your deck redundancy. Who can get something from today's article? EDH players, obviously. Also anyone who enjoys Highlander formats of any sort. Casual Five Color players who need to build a large deck also qualify for finding duplicates. Finally, anyone who likes seeing old and obscure cards should really enjoy today.

We're going to be mining a few sets that are really under the radar - Portal sets. If you were playing at the time that Portal came out, then you probably missed many of the cards from it. They weren't tournament legal, after all. Similarly, if you started playing after Portal was released, but before they were moved to Vintage legal status, then you skipped the older sets. Finally, if you started playing in the last few years, after Portal was legal, then these sets were printed a long time ago, and the cards rarely come up in tournaments and casual games, so you may not know them very well either.

(Perhaps you have encountered some in the Magic Online Master Edition sets, but that will certainly be a minority of players)

With a large segment of the Magic population largely ignorant about the depth of cards in the various Portal sets, I think an article or two about how to find good cards in here for your EDH deck has some value.

Some Portal cards became quite expensive after the move to allow Portal in tournaments. For example, there is an Armageddon variant that is just renamed Ravages of War in Portal: Three Kingdoms. For EDH decks that want Armageddon effects, that would be a great card to pick up. However, it now goes for over $100 so most players won't be picking up a copy.

For most things, it's easy to find enough duplicates. If you are playing Green and/or White in your EDH deck, then adding Disenchant and variants is easy enough to do. Just grab cards like Krosan Grip, Naturalize, Seal of Cleansing, and more. If you want to find Shocks and Lightning Bolts, I think it will be pretty easy. The same is true of Terrors, Stone Rains, Counterspells, and Rampant Growths. When there are a lot of a certain effects printed, then it's easy to find many good versions of it, and include them. Highlander is barely a restriction at all if you are looking for X burn spells, for example.

There are a lot of variants out there in Portal world that are good enough to make the cut. There are also variants out there in Portal world that duplicate cards that are not so common, like the aforementioned Ravages of War for an Armageddon.

Today we are going to look at some of those cards, and how they can help your deck. Are you ready? Let's go!

Avalanche Riders

I remember playing Avalanche Riders in a Wildfire deck in Type Two. It was awesome. We learned very quickly that a Stone Rain for one more mana, on a 2/2 haste creature, even with echo, was totally worth it. It was usually just "Sorcery, destroy target land, deal two damage to its controller" because you didn't often pay the echo. That was okay. It was strong.

Portal massaged that a bit. It has several creatures that come in play, and destroy a land. These are great additions to tempo strategies that don't want to spend a sorcery for a land, and want to keep up the pressure.

The options are Ravaging Horde, Goblin Settler, and Ogre Arsonist. The Settler is the worst of the group. It costs four mana, and you get just a 1/1 goblin. Goblin decks may really want it, but otherwise, I don't think it has the power you are looking for.

Ravaging Horde and Ogre Arsonist have something else. They are 3/3 creatures for 5 mana, with the ETB Stone Rain trigger. The Ravaging Horde is a soldier, so it slides into a soldier deck very well. They are both nice bodies with a pertinent size.

Destroying lands is not as bad an idea as you might at first think. If you are not playing EDH duels, but instead rocking multiplayer, then Stone Rains drop in value. It's still good to have removal for annoying lands from Academy Ruins to Eye of Ugin to Emeria, the Sky Ruin to Yavimaya Hollow. There are a lot of really good lands out there that you need to take down. These guys will do it. You won't have to play dedicated land removal cards like Stone Rain, or waste a useful spell like Vindicate on a land. These will do the trick very nicely.

Nekrataals

While on the subject of creatures that have an enter the battlefield trigger, let's talk about Nekrataals. We have some really great cards in Magic's history that destroy a creature when they come into play. Take a look at Bone Shredder and Shriekmaw and Dark Hatchling.

One card was moved from a starter set to the base set that does this – Dakmor Lancer. It's probably the worst one, because it does not fly and costs 6 mana. Take a look at some of these other cards:

Serpent Assassin. Predatory Nightstalker. Wei Assassins.

The Serpent Assassin is great for Assassin and Snake decks. It's also your basic Nekrataal but for 5 mana, with a 2/2 body and no fear or first strike. It's not the best Nekrataal out there, but if you want more creature oriented removal, then this fits.

Wei Assassins and Predatory Nightstalker roughly have the same text. For a while, both were errata'ed to be Comes Into Play Edicts. Now, the Wei Assassins is a weak Edict, that destroys the creature the opponent chooses rather than sacrifices. The Predatory Nightstalker is still an ETB Edict. That makes it very strong indeed. It fills a niche that no other creature in Magic fills – there is not another ETB Edict creature in the game. It's also a 3/2 for five mana, so it's no slouch. Picking up one or three for your Commander decks seems like a solid idea.

Ghitu Slingers

Let's finish our little ETB section of today's chart with creatures that deal damage when they enter play. There's a lot of variants on this in Magic. You have those that enter play and deal one or two damage – Sparkmage Apprentice and Murderous Redcap. You have some that enter play and will deal damage to all creatures – Magma Giant. You have some that enter the battlefield and then hit only a foe – Goretusk Firebeast. You have those than can split their damage – Bogardan Hellkite.

I like the small ones that deal just a bit of damage when they come into play. These cheap utility creatures can be the backbone of a successful venture at the kitchen table. Ghitu Slinger is probably the Standard Bearer, but its echo status makes it fail to last long.

There are a few creatures in Portal sets that have a similar ability. Let's look at them. Fire Imp costs just 3 mana for a 2/1, and it shoots a creature for two when it enters play, but it cannot go to the dome for two, just to take out a creature. That's still pretty solid though.

Corrupt Eunuchs have a name that sound Black, but they are a four mana Red creature that enters the battlefield and deals 2 damage to just a creature. It's a 2/2. It's not bad, but again, it can't go to the dome.

Finally, we have another goblin, and like the Avalanche Riders from above, it's the worst of the lot. Goblin Commando is a 5 mana creature that is identical to Corrupt Eunuchs, but costs an extra mana to play. However, if you are looking for more Goblin-based creature kill to go with your Goblin Grenade and Siege-Gang Commander, then this may be up your ally.

There are also a few creatures that do something else. Thunder Dragon was reprinted in the Dragons From the Vault, so many are now familiar with the card. I suspect many EDH players got a pretty foil Thunder Dragon for their deck. Fire Dragon has an ETB Spitting Earth effect. In a mono-Red deck, by time you can play it, it will basically go lethal against any creature out there not called Indomitable Ancients.

Magma Giant was originally a Portal 2 Card, and I have the Portal version rather than the one from Mirrodin Block in my decks. Personally, I think Portal versions of cards are pimpier. Opinions vary.

Creature Type Alert

A lot of Commander-EDH decks care about creature type. For those decks, an unusual Portal card that suits the type of the deck can be golden. Take Raging Goblin, as an example. It's a simple little one drop, missing all of the glory of larger cards for a single mana. If you are playing goblins, it might make the cut as an on curve goblin, but I doubt it. Take a look at Mountain Bandit. This is a human soldier rogue, who is a Raging Goblin in every respect. Soldier and rogue decks could really use a one drop in Red if that's what they are looking for, especially Red in a rogue deck with prowl.

There are a lot of goats, tigers, cheetahs, farmers, and such for your theme decks. You want to make a farm deck? How about Farmstead, Shu Solder-Farmers, Shu Farmers, Swords to Plowshares, and more (such as Zodiac Rooster and Zodiac Ox and Zodiac Rabbit and Mountain Goat or Zodiac Goat). There's your farm deck.

Red has a lot of soldiers, since the barbarians and rebels in Portal Three Kingdoms were all given the soldier type when printed. Since then, they been errata'ed to also have barbarian type. Look at cards like Barbarian General.

You also have cards like Wu Longbowman which is a Blue archer and soldier. If that's what you want, then grab it for a deck.

If you want to play a Pirate deck, then you are going to really lean hard on the Blue creature from Portal 2. I've never really gotten how pirates are Blue though. They are exactly like bandits, except on boats. They have bandit mentality, outlook, and such. Bandits are Red, and suitably so. Why are pirates Blue simply because they sail on seas? Shouldn't your color reflect your attitude, and not your geographical location? That's one of the flavor issues I have with Magic. Anyway, Pirates, Blue, here you go.

Highway Robber is a fine card, but Dakmor Ghoul is a zombie, and thus slides into your zombie themed decks.

Random Cards

There are a lot of cards that were renamed in Portal and are good options if you want a duplicate. I've already shown you those that move to a pertinent creature type, such as Highway Robber to Dakmor Ghoul. Let's take a look at some other examples.

Do you like Ravenous Rats? Then look at Corrupt Court Official. There's Brutal Nightstalker for a nastier and more expensive version of these cards.

Do you like Merchant of Secrets? Then consider Council of Advisors.

Do you like Hypnotic Specter type cards to give you some discard? Then you need Wei Night Raiders. With horsemanship, they are virtually unblockable. Then they cause a discard when they hit. They are a winning condition and a reliable way to strip cards all wrapped in one.

I love Loyal Sentry and Abu Ja'far. Did you know there is another Loyal Sentry from Portal 2? The uncommon Alaborn Zealot will give you this ability as well.

I adore Ambition's Cost. There's another version from Portal that did not make its way to a base set – Ancient Craving. These are both great cards for your decks if you are interested.

Wildfire is a solid card. So is Burning of Xinye. Another card with some duplicates is Time Warp. It has Capture of Jingzhou and Temporal Manipulation.

Everybody knows about Grim Tutor, Cruel Tutor, Personal Tutor and Imperial Seal. I just want to make sure that I mentioned them here. There's also Imperial Recruiter.

Deep Wood and Heavy Fog are Fog variants that must be played before you declare blockers, but which allows creatures to deal their normal damage to each other, preventing only attackers from dealing damage to you. That's pretty good if you block and kill a few attackers, and let everything else through for no damage.

Temple Acolyte is an established classic for defensive creatures, and I would be remiss if I allowed an article on Portal cards to go by without mentioning it.

If you want more Edicts in your deck, you can always consider Imperial Edict.

Unlike Untamed Wilds and other options, Spoils of Victory gets you any duel land in addition to getting you any basic land.

One of the things I adore about Devastation is that it keeps around your mana artifacts, which can ensure you rebound from it very quickly. Cards like Jokulhaups and Obliterate are not so kind.

White occasionally gets Resurrection style cards. False Defeat, from Portal: Three Kingdoms , is a another good alternative in those decks.

As I mentioned when talking about Fire Dragon, Spitting Earth has always been very good in mono-red decks. You can also find Rockslide Ambush in the Portal sets.

Fire Tempest is a sorcery Inferno. That's still good. Inferno is a classic card for casual and multiplayer.

If you want more Portent, Impulse style cards, then look at Omen. You also have Owl Familiar.

Unusual Cards

There are cards out there in Portal that do things which are quite unusual for their color.

The perfect example of this is Steam Catapult. This is a White creature that can tap to destroy a tapped creature. It has the common Portal restriction of forcing you to tap it on your turn, before you attack. It is still an ability that just doesn't exist in White. It's in the same color as tappers like Master Decoy or Whipcorder. Ouch.

Royal Trooper is a little unusual because it pumps on blocking, and pumps both power and toughness. For just three mana, it turns into a powerful 4/4 on defense. People who drafted the Masters Edition set with it as a common know just how deadly it can be.

Lava Flow is one of the rare ways to flat out destroy a creature in Red. It's basically a sorcery Fissure.

Champion Lancer is an unusual creature in White. It has a good, defensive ability, but not on par with cards like Commander Eesha or Cho Manno.

Speaking of defensive creatures, once in a while Red gets some good walls. Wall of Granite is pretty good, and without the issues of two Red in the casting cost, unlike cards such as Wall of Stone.

That brings us to the end of today's article. I hope you liked a little EDH (Commander). Next week we are going to continue this theme, and talk about Portal: Three Kingdoms legendary creatures as your general.

See you next week,

Abe Sargent