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Ten of the Most Exciting Commanders from Innistrad Remastered

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While we're firmly in the thick of Aetherdrift, it can be easy to forget that Innistrad Remastered is releasing this week as well. The latest set in the Remastered line brings with it a whole host of powerful reprints - including some not originally from Innistrad - making it look like one of the best of those releases to date.

With last year's set Ravnica Remastered, I wanted to write about all the great legends the set had to offer. The first two Ravnica blocks were huge for me as a Commander player in the early 2010s, so it was a lot of fun to look back and talk about some of the coolest legends around. Innistrad Remastered falls into a similar space for me, and there's a lot of really awesome reprints here to cover. As such, I figured I'd run it back and talk about ten cool legendary creatures that you can build your next Commander deck around with the new set!

There's ton cover so let's jump right on in!

Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier

Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier

If you read my mythic ranking series of articles, you might be familiar with my dislike of Avacyn, Angel of Hope in the context of Commander. As iconic as the card is, it's very expensive and difficult to cast, which can hinder its relevance in many games. Given this, I've opted to instead focus on her later version of Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier. This card is much cheaper, can be flashed in whenever you need it, and benefits greatly from having access to a second color besides just being simply Mono-White.

There's a lot of ways you can build this deck too. One such way is going for the more flavorful route and running a ton of angels - including that original 8 mana iteration of Avacyn. The more interesting way to build it, though, is to make use of creatures that you want to take damage and/or die. Cards like Stuffy Doll and Screaming Nemesis will fling the damage right back at your opponent, or else take out creatures like Hallowed Spiritkeeper for tons of value. This is one of the more interesting Boros build-arounds out there, which should appeal to the fans who dislike the color pair's tendency to lean on aggro and/or equipment strategies exclusively.

Brisela, Voice of Nightmares (Bruna, the Fading Light and Gisela, the Broken Blade)

Bruna, the Fading Light
Gisela, the Broken Blade

If you were going to play Avacyn, Angel of Hope or Archangel Avacyn in the hopes of building an angel themed deck, I'd recommend trying this one instead. Making Brisela, Voice of Nightmares happen is an epic dream for many Magic players everywhere, never mind solely in Commander, which alone should be a strong reason to build it. More importantly, though, is the synergy provided by one of the two face cards: Bruna, the Fading Light.

Gisela, the Broken Blade has arguably more raw power, but that's more for 60 and 40 card formats. Here, Bruna's reanimation ability rules the day in a casual Commander space. If you build your deck themed heavily around angels and humans, Bruna can revive them in a pinch. That makes her especially useful at most points out of the command zone, whereas Gisela will often just come down and just be a big dumb beater until you hopefully find Bruna. Heck, Bruna can even back Gisela herself if she dies. Give this one a try and watch your opponents' mouths drop if they've never seen the meld between these two cards actually happen in a game before.

Edgar Markov

Edgar Markov

Without a doubt, the big marquee legend of the set is Edgar Markov. Not only is Edgar one of the most popular vampire commanders, but he's also one of the most popular commanders of all time, ranking within the top ten of EDHREC.com. Despite this popularity, though, there's been a certain accessibility barrier for several players with Edgar Markov also being one of the most expensive commanders even excluding his high end judge foil promo. With his reprinting in Innistrad Remastered, Edgar remains an expensive card, but becomes far more accessible at the same time with more entering the market. There was a time where copies cost over $150, and even a modest injection has brought that down substantially.

Thanks to this set, you too can experience the fun of this legendary commander! It's pretty straightforward as far as most commanders go. Simply put together your favorite White, Black, and Red vampires and go to town. There's no real synergy beyond the typal aspect, so you can lean more heavily into that aspect or else try utilizing token doublers to get more value out of his token making ability. Definitely make sure you pick up copies of Bloodline Keeper // Lord of Lineage to make your creatures extra large!

Gisa and Geralf

Gisa and Geralf

If Edgar Markov is the classic vampire Commander, Gisa and Geralf are arguably about as good as it gets in the realm of zombies. More recent options like Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver are potentially quite a bit better, but that doesn't mean this Eldritch Moon classic has lost any of its potency. Innistrad zombies love being sacrificed and brought back for more value, and Gisa and Geralf allows you to go all-in on this strategy as a result. If you want a good typal legend, this is a simple yet remarkably powerful one. Best of all, it's cheap, providing a great avenue for newer players to pick up and mess with.

Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

Grimgrin was the original zombie Commander based out of Innistrad, making use of the plane's many zombies to fuel its ravenous power. These days, though, there are many other zombie commanders that are just better. That doesn't make Grimgrin any less powerful, but instead you can leave the typal synergies to the aforementioned Gisa and Geralf. Instead, try finding ways to utilize sacrifice strategies is a far more optimal solution.

With a card like Gisa and Geralf, you're pretty heavily priced into using only zombies. While Grimgrin certainly likes that strategy, many of the best recursion-friendly creatures aren't actually zombies. Yes, popular options like Gravecrawler are, but many others aren't. These include the likes of Nether Traitor, Reassembling Skeleton, and the soon-to-be-reprinted Bloodghast. Each of these lacks your typical zombie synergy, but works tremendously well here, providing your commander with constant fuel to massacre your opponents the longer the game goes on.

Liesa, Forgotten Archangel

Liesa, Forgotten Archangel

Liesa, Forgotten Archangel provides a really fun experience. There's a ton of awesome synergy in getting to replay your creatures over and over again, just as it is to have them die over and over again. You don't need to look much further than the play rate of cards like Sun Titan and Teysa Karlov to see what I mean. She's largely just a great value engine that allows you to do all kinds of creature nonsense, be it making use of enters or dies triggers or just getting into the red zone with sweeping attacks. Best of all, though, is how she can shut down your opponents' graveyard shenanigans as well, which is excellent if you're struggling to deal with those kinds of strategies in your local playgroup.

Olivia Voldaren

Olivia Voldaren

Edgar may be the more popular vampire commander, but there's more ways to make a vampire deck and Olivia provides an awesome way to go about this. Olivia cares far less about shoving as many vampires into one deck as possible and rather prefers to make her own vampires instead. Pour some mana into her abilities and you can turn your opponents' creatures into bloodsucking freaks and turn them against their controllers. This could be anything from a simple mana dork all the way up to something truly monstrous like a Blightsteel Colossus.

Make no mistake, though: Olivia certainly still wants to play with other vampires. Many vampires offer great synergy with other vampires, so stealing some away to make your synergistic cards that much better is a huge perk. Additionally, you can make good use of various spells like Blood Tribute, Stensia Masquerade, and Vampires' Vengeance - even if you don't have a single other vampire in your deck! Heck, Vampires' Vengeance can even be a powerful political tool as you can turn an opponent's creature into a vampire to prevent it getting wiped out and have your opponent then use it to gang up on other players in the pod as well. I'd argue this makes Olivia a far more interesting build-around personally, and she's far more affordable as well.

Thalia, Heretic Cathar

Thalia, Heretic Cathar

You might think Thalia, Heretic Cathar is a bit innocuous as a commander. In a vacuum, I'd agree with you. While she can be extremely annoying to deal with - much like her original classic of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - she's a very low powered creature that's easy to take out in a Commander game. When you add a little more context and texture with a list built around her, however, things get a little more interesting. In reality, she's often downright cruel.

Thalia decks are likely to be very tax heavy, even somewhat Stax-like in their play. This involves shutting down other players' ability to enjoy the game. This includes doing things like making opponents' spells cost more, limiting the amount of spells they can play a turn, or stopping anyone from being able to attack. Playing against these decks can be incredibly frustrating, but if you're in the driver's seat, it can be a really engaging experience. This is one you should only bring to more advanced tables willing to put up with it, but if you find a playgroup up to the challenge, it can be well worth trying out.

The Gitrog Monster

The Gitrog Monster

The Gitrog Monster has been an extremely popular commander for years, and for good reason. It provides you an extremely grindy option to build around and is a great option for a Lands commander, which is something of a rarity in Magic. These decks rely on playing a long game with an extremely synergy-focused strategy. As such, it's not something I could recommend to you if you're relatively new to the game, but if you're looking for a deck that's a little more advanced, I definitely suggest trying this one out. You'll have a blast taking way too many game actions as your opponents stare at you to get on with it already.

Torens, Fist of the Angels

Torens, Fist of the Angels

Of all the legends past Innistrad sets have to offer, Torens was one I didn't think would show up here. Typically Remastered sets like this tend to lean into the more epic legends from the past and I don't think Torens quite fits the bill there. However, I'm quite a big fan of the inclusion as I like the card quite a bit. I even wrote an article on him back in 2021 when Innistrad: Crimson Vow was coming out. I feel like it's an excellent aggressive commander that's both easy to build around and simultaneously fun to play. As such, it's a great option for new players looking to make big creatures as well as experienced players wanting to find ways to do creative things with counters and the training mechanic. I highly recommend it - especially if you're looking for something to build on a budget!


That wraps things up for this year's Remastered set! I hope you check out some of these if you've never had the pleasure of playing with them in the past. One thing that surprised me when going through the legends in this set, however, is the amount of great options that were left on the cutting room floor. As such, I'll be back with a follow-up piece next week talking about the commanders that should've been in the set.

Make sure you check out Innistrad Remastered this week and give some of these legends - and more - a try!

Paige Smith

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