gaming

Designer Urges More Play for Overlooked Avatar Commander

A Magic: The Gathering designer argued that an underrated Avatar commander deserves more play because it supports distinctive, surprise-driven deck builds instead of the steady-value engines that dominate Commander. Top commanders typically make surrounding cards stronger—examples include The Ur-Dragon, Edgar Markov, Vivi Ornitier and Y’shtola—so the Avatar’s different toolkit can create more unexpected, fun games. This matters because promoting underused commanders expands viable deck archetypes and table dynamics in Commander play.

• The Ur-Dragon reduces dragon costs, draws extra cards, and cheats permanents onto the battlefield.
• Edgar Markov buffs all vampires and generates additional vampire tokens.
• Vivi Ornitier and Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed frequently deal ping damage while providing other useful effects.
• The designer prefers overlooked commanders that enable surprising deck builds instead of steady, self-sustaining engines