It’s no secret that Wizards has been going pretty hard on the Masters and other supplemental sets in the last few years. Basically every format other than Legacy and Vintage have gotten the treatment in one form or another, and it’s finally Commander’s turn.
This time around Commander is receiving its first ever “Masters” set, so it’ll be full of reprints including the most powerful and beautiful cards in the format. We’re also getting plenty of new cards alongside those reprints in the four preconstructed Commander decks coming out at the same time.
Just what can we expect from the set and what’s going to be included? Let’s find out!
Commander Masters Basic Information
Jeweled Lotus | Illustration by Alayna Danner
Set Details
| Set Symbol |  |
| Set Code | CMM |
| Number of Cards | TBA |
| Rarities | TBA |
| Mechanics | TBA |
Important Dates
| Event | Date |
|---|---|
| Previews start | May 16, 2023 |
| WPN Premium Store preview events | July 28 to 30, 2023 |
| Full gallery available | TBA |
| Available on Draftsim's Draft simulator | TBA |
| Prerelease week | TBA |
| Paper release date | August 4, 2023 |
Set Mechanics
The Ur-Dragon | Illustration by Jaime Jones
We don’t have any idea what mechanics are going to be prevalent or included in the set since Commander Masters is so far away. The announcement post said that the release would include “both reprints as well as new, powerful cards,” indicating that we’d see a mix of both old and new. This wording is a bit misleading—while not incorrect—in that it implies the main set will be a mix of reprints and new cards.
Blake Rasmussen, “Communications Guy” at Wizards of the Coast, clarified that the main set will be entirely reprinted cards (like any other Masters set) while the Commander precons will have the new cards.
Among the initial spoilers are the reprints of Jeweled Lotus, The Ur-Dragon, and Capture of Jingzhou, indicating that a lot of Commander staples are getting fresh printings. These are some great early spoilers to see because they indicate that we’ll hopefully be getting a price cut on some of the most widely-played (and rather expensive) cards.
Speculation
Since the main set release will be entirely reprints, we can guess pretty easily what cards might be included. Jeweled Lotus is one of the few early spoilers we have right now, and it notably hasn’t been printed since its original release in Commander Legends. I doubt it’ll be the only expensive reprint from that set.
While Mana Drain and Vampiric Tutor have gotten numerous recent reprints, Jeska’s Will was only reprinted in Baldur’s Gate and Commander’s Plate hasn’t gotten anything. Both of these still sit around the $20 to $30 mark and are played enough to warrant a reprint at rare.
Looking elsewhere I think it’s safe to assume other highly-played cards get reprinted into the Commander decks at the minimum, like Path to Exile, other ramp spells, and mana rocks like the Signets. Those are all pretty common.
In terms of what other cards continue to get reprinted but still have high price tags, I think Cyclonic Rift would be a greatly appreciated reprint. It’s a Commander classic, maybe one of the most infamous cards, and it’s truly worthy of being in a “Masters” set. I’d say the same for Rhystic Study, which is always in need of new reprints.
Aside from those specific cards I think it’s safe to say that the Eldrazi, a lot of the enchantment engines, popular planeswalkers, and slivers will all make an appearance. These are the themes of the Commander decks after all, and they all have some bomb inclusions that could be reprinted in the main set.
Official Spoilers
February 21, 2023
Unofficial Spoilers/Leaks
While there aren’t any major leaks just yet, both Double Masters and Commander Legends had their fair share of cards leaked leading up to their release. We’ll keep an eye out and update this as soon as cards begin to get leaked on Reddit or anywhere else. Feel free to bookmark and check back regularly over the next few months!
Notable Cards
February Spoilers
All the officially released cards are fairly notable inclusions in the main set. Jeweled Lotus, Capture of Jingzhou, and The Ur-Dragon are all relatively expensive cards. Jeweled Lotus and The Ur-Dragon are both common cards and haven’t seen enough reprints to be adequately available to the general player base.
Capture of Jingzhou is also extremely expensive despite being a Time Warp clone. Decks that want as many Time Warp effects as possible are seriously hindered by not having another copy of the effect, and hopefully this reprint axes down the price to an affordable range.
Available Products
Draft Boosters
Draft boosters are made with the purpose of drafting in mind. But there are a few differences in what you’ll get out of each pack since this is a Masters set for a very unique format. In addition to picking two cards at a time during Draft, each pack has some extra rares.
Here’s what’s in each Commander Masters draft booster:
- 2-4 rares/mythics
- 5-7 uncommons
- 11-12 commons
- 1 double-sided token
- FIRST MASTERS SET FOR COMMANDER—Masters boosters are super-charged packs full of the finest Magic: The Gathering reprints; Commander Masters brings the first Masters packs specifically designed for Commander, Magic’s most popular format
- DRAFT A COMMANDER DECK—get Draft Boosters to draft and play in epic, multiplayer battles; just grab 3 Draft Boosters each, pass them and pick 2 cards at a time, add some lands to build a 60-card deck, and let the fun begin
- 3–4 LEGENDARY CARDS IN EVERY PACK—each booster contains 3 nonfoil Legendary cards, plus the possibility of a Traditional Foil Legendary card of rarity Uncommon or higher
- MULTIPLE RARES IN EVERY PACK—every Commander Masters Draft Booster contains 2–4 cards of rarity Rare or higher, including at least 1 Rare or Mythic Rare Legendary card
- FOIL IN EVERY PACK—every booster contains 1 Traditional Foil card of any rarity
Set Boosters
Set boosters provide a great pack to crack for the sake of opening cards and getting special printings. They typically include a few variants of cards, a different order, and are a great and more affordable pack for collecting than the collector boosters.
Here’s what each Commander Masters set booster includes:
- 2-6 rares/mythics
- 3-8 uncommons
- 4-8 commons
- 1 land
- 1 art card
- 1 token/ad card or The List card
- FIRST MASTERS SET FOR COMMANDER—Masters boosters are super-charged packs full of the finest Magic: The Gathering reprints; Commander Masters brings the first Masters packs specifically designed for Commander, Magic’s most popular format
- BEST BOOSTERS TO OPEN JUST FOR FUN—designed for a fun pack-opening experience, if you want to explore the set by opening packs just to see what you get, Set Boosters are for you
- MULTIPLE RARES AND FOIL IN EVERY PACK—in every pack you’ll get 2–6 cards of rarity Rare or higher, at least 1 Traditional Foil card, and 1 Art Card showcasing a piece of art from the set
- BORDERLESS CARD IN EVERY PACK—every Set Booster contains 1–4 Borderless cards, with at least 1 Borderless Common or Uncommon card
- 2 LEGENDARY CARDS IN EVERY PACK—each booster also contains at least 2 Legendary cards, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare
Collector Boosters
The collector booster is the ultimate pack of cards for collecting and opening extremely rare versions of cards and carry a very high price tag that’s reflective of what they contain.
The collector boosters for Commander Masters will include the following in each pack:
- 5 rares/mythics
- 2-5 uncommons
- 4-7 commons
- 1 land
- 1 foil double-sided token
- FIRST MASTERS SET FOR COMMANDER—Masters boosters are super-charged packs full of the finest Magic: The Gathering reprints; Commander Masters brings the first Masters packs specifically designed for Commander, Magic’s most popular format
- GET THE BEST OF THE BEST—Collector Boosters are a shortcut to the coolest cards in an already extraordinary set, with packs full of Rare cards, shiny foil cards, and special alt-art, alt-frame cards
- COLLECTOR BOOSTER-EXCLUSIVE TREATMENTS—Collector Boosters are the only boosters where you'll find Extended-Art, Foil-Etched, and possible Textured Foil treatment cards
- 5 BORDERLESS CARDS IN EVERY PACK—every pack contains 5 Borderless cards, 1 of which may be a Textured Foil Borderless Rare or Mythic Rare card destined for a starring role in your collection
- PACKED FULL OF RARES & FOILS—each booster contains a total of 9–11 Traditional Foil cards, 1 Foil-Etched card, a possible Textured Foil Borderless card (1 in 25% of packs), and a total of 5 cards of rarity Rare or higher
Commander Decks
As mentioned, the Commander precons are where you can find the “new and powerful” cards in this set. Each deck will have 10 new cards, for a total of 40 brand new cards in the set. And while a lot of the information regarding the contents of each preconstructed Commander deck isn’t yet available, we do know the colors and names of the four decks coming up.
Here’s what you can find in each Commander Masters precon:
- 1 ready-to-play EDH deck (2 foil legendary creatures + 98 nonfoil cards)
- 1 2-card collector booster sample pack
- 1 foil-etched display commander
- 10 double-sided tokens
- 1 helper card
- 1 life tracker
- 1 deck box
- 4 COMMANDER DECKS—this bundle includes all 4 Commander Masters Commander Decks, with 1 Eldrazi Unbound, 1 Enduring Enchantments, 1 Planeswalker Party, and 1 Sliver Swarm; each 100-card deck contains 2 Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards
- POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Take your Commander game to the next level with these high-powered, ready-to-play decks
- PLAY WITH COMMANDER’S GREATEST HITS—Turn heads with decks stacked with reprints of some of the greatest cards to grace Magic’s most popular format
- INTRODUCES 40 COMMANDER CARDS—Each deck also introduces 10 never-before-seen Magic: The Gathering cards
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Every deck comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 special treatment cards (1 Rare and 1 Rare or Mythic Rare) from the Commander Masters set
Eldrazi Unbound
Eldrazi Unbound is a colorless deck and, while the commander’s identity isn’t released yet, I’d suspect that it’ll be a new Commander-legal Eldrazi titan. These decks cost a whopping $80, so it’s not unreasonable to expect to get some expensive cards sprinkled in.
You’re also likely to get a lot of the basic mana rocks on top of the classic Sol Ring, like Thran Dynamo and Basalt Monolith.
- POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Take your Commander game to the next level with a high-powered, ready-to-play deck
- PLAY WITH COMMANDER’S GREATEST HITS—Turn heads with a deck stacked with reprints of some of the greatest cards to grace Magic’s most popular format
- INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDS—Each Commander deck also introduces 10 never-before-seen Magic: The Gathering cards
- COLORLESS COMMANDER DECK—get the Eldrazi Unbound Commander Deck, a Colorless 100-card deck containing 2 Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards, and battle your friends in epic, multiplayer games
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 special treatment cards (1 Rare and 1 Rare or Mythic Rare) from the Commander Masters set
Sliver Swarm
While the Sliver Swarm’s commander hasn’t been spoiled yet, we know it’ll be a 5-color monstrosity. There are more than a few 5-color commanders already out there for slivers like The First Sliver, Sliver Overlord, Sliver Hivelord, and Sliver Queen, but I hope we get something new this time around.
A new sliver legendary would probably also cost exactly , be a 7/7, and have some kind of huge creature-based suite of abilities powering the deck.
- POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Take your Commander game to the next level with a high-powered, ready-to-play deck
- PLAY WITH COMMANDER’S GREATEST HITS—Turn heads with a deck stacked with reprints of some of the greatest cards to grace Magic’s most popular format
- INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDS—Each Commander deck also introduces 10 never-before-seen Magic: The Gathering cards
- FIVE-COLOR COMMANDER DECK—get the Sliver Swarm Commander Deck, a White-Blue-Black-Red-Green 100-card deck containing 2 Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards, and battle your friends in epic, multiplayer games
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 special treatment cards (1 Rare and 1 Rare or Mythic Rare) from the Commander Masters set
Planeswalker Party
This time around we’re getting a Jeskai () superfriends list judging by the name, “Planeswalker Party“. I can’t think of many Jeskai planeswalker commanders that would be strong here, so I’d expect a new card leading the charge.
As for reprints, I’d be pretty surprised if the likes of Oath of Teferi, Deepglow Skate, and The Chain Veil aren’t included. The Veil is pretty expensive, but I think it’s a fair (and much appreciated) reprint.
- POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Take your Commander game to the next level with a high-powered, ready-to-play deck
- PLAY WITH COMMANDER’S GREATEST HITS—Turn heads with a deck stacked with reprints of some of the greatest cards to grace Magic’s most popular format
- INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDS—Each Commander deck also introduces 10 never-before-seen Magic: The Gathering cards
- BLUE-RED-WHITE COMMANDER DECK—get the Planeswalker Party Commander Deck, a Blue-Red-White 100-card deck containing 2 Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards, and battle your friends in epic, multiplayer games
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 special treatment cards (1 Rare and 1 Rare or Mythic Rare) from the Commander Masters set
Enduring Enchantments
Last is Enduring Enchantments, an Abzan () list that’ll probably play exactly like every other enchantment deck in Commander. It’ll have a ton of enchantress effects (the card-draw effect from cards like Verduran Enchantress) that allow for the pilot to continuously net mana and cards as they play more enchantments before finishing people off with bombs like Nylea’s Colossus.
There aren’t a whole lot of enchantment commanders in the Abzan colors, so I’d bet that we’re getting a new commander here just as we probably are in the other preconstructed decks.
- POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX—Take your Commander game to the next level with a high-powered, ready-to-play deck
- PLAY WITH COMMANDER’S GREATEST HITS—Turn heads with a deck stacked with reprints of some of the greatest cards to grace Magic’s most popular format
- INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDS—Each Commander deck also introduces 10 never-before-seen Magic: The Gathering cards
- WHITE-BLACK-GREEN COMMANDER DECK—get the Enduring Enchantments Commander Deck, a White-Black-Green 100-card deck containing 2 Foil Legendary cards and 98 nonfoil cards, and battle your friends in epic, multiplayer games
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 special treatment cards (1 Rare and 1 Rare or Mythic Rare) from the Commander Masters set
Commanding Conclusion
Sol Ring | Illustration by Mike Bierek
That wraps up all there is to know about the highly anticipated Commander Masters set and decks coming in August. I’m a huge Commander fan and am really excited to get my hands on this set, whether it’s through drafting, opening collector boosters, or just being able to afford a Jeweled Lotus!
What do you think of the set so far? Are you super excited to play around with the cards, or are you still holding out for your favorite expensive pet card to be spoiled for a reprint? Let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below or come join the conversation in the official Draftsim Discord.
Until next time, stay safe, and stay healthy!
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