Dyfed, the Guiding Hand | Illustration by Alix Branwyn
2026 was already jammed-packed with new cards and seven mainline sets planned for the year, but Wizards still had a surprise up their sleeve: Mystery Booster Commander Edition, the third coming of Mystery Booster that will be sold as part of the Festival-in-a-Box promotion starting with MagicCon Atlanta this November.
Like the previous Mystery Boosters, MBC is predominately filled with reprints, but it has a little extra sauce to make it “Commander Edition”: There’s brand-new commanders, many of which draw on Magic lore—all the way back to the Alpha rulebook, even!
How Many New Commanders Are There in Mystery Booster Commander Edition?
Nephilim Epochal | Illustration by Simon Dominic
There are a total of 60 new commanders in Mystery Booster Commander Edition. Well, 59 if you don’t want to count Tsagan, Raider Warlord, an Alchemy: Aetherdrift card that's receiving a regular paper print since its ruleset works on paper.
This is surprisingly comparable to The Hobbit, which had 81 new commanders between the main set, the scene cards, and other products. Perhaps a better comparison is Commander Masters or Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate as recent sets designed for Commander Draft like MBC. CMM only had eight new commanders, and 138 overall; CLB was in a similar space with 116 total commanders but 98 new ones.
Many of the commanders chosen are deep cuts in the game’s lore. For example, the planeswalker commanders Worzel, the Protector and Thomil, the Destroyer represent the first named planeswalker characters, subjects of a very short story from the Alpha Rulebook that introduced players to the concept of planeswalkers battling.
The commanders are mechanically diverse, with zany and creative designs reminiscent of Un-sets. Among the most exciting options are a legendary sorcery (yes, a sorcery), an army of new planeswalker commanders, and one new mechanic: rulebreaker, which allows players to run cards outside the commander’s color identity.
#33. Chief Magistrate of Mercadia
Chief Magistrate of Mercadia gives us the monarch masquerading as a goblin commander. I love commanders that marry aggression and card draw, and this is pretty unique as a Boros () goblin commander rather than red or Rakdos (). Finally, a use for Goblin Trenches!
#32. Elda, Conjurer of Spectacle
If you’ve ever wanted more than one copy of your best creature, Elda, Conjurer of Spectacle provides it… at a price. My first thought is token doublers like Elspeth, Storm Slayer. Who cares if your opponent has one Baloth Prime when you have three?
#31. Selenia, the Cursed Heart
Selenia, the Cursed Heart harkens back to Selenia, Dark Angel from Tempest but updates it in power and interest for the modern Commander player. Cursing your opponents when Selenia dies ends the game quickly, especially with cards like Unstoppable Slasher for a combo kill.
Black easily gets a curse for each opponent; pair it with a sacrifice outlet and reanimation spells or recursion spells like Malakir Rebirth and all your opponents will suffer the curse. Also, I’d be remiss not to comment on the art; I think this is my favorite of the new commanders.
#30. Tresserhorn’s Lord, Returned
Tresserhorn's Lord, Returned similarly updates Lord of Tresserhorn, copying its stat line and the harsh costs associated with getting such a cheap 10-power creature. I’m not entirely sold on this as a commander because giving your opponents three cards is quite the cost. But you also draw three and a creature this large may kill your opponents faster than they can use the cards, so I might be underrating it.
#29. Nephilim Epochal
For a very long time, the nephilim from Guildpact were Rule 0’d into the command zone as the only available 4-color commanders before Commander 2016, partners, and so on. They now have a leader in Nephilim Epochal, a card I’d rate more highly if we had more than five nephilim. Pad out the deck with multicolor-matters cards like General Ferrous Rokiric and Aragorn, the Uniter, and perhaps some changelings—I do like the ability to tutor for Chomping Changeling.
#28. Lyna, Veil of Vengeance
There aren’t many good creatures with shadow. By “not many”, I mean there’s Dauthi Voidwalker. So it’s great that Lyna, Veil of Vengeance puts shadow counters on creatures, as it wouldn’t be playable otherwise. I also appreciate the flexibility of a commander that supports diverse themes like ninja or saboteur since it basically makes creatures unblockable for the rest of the game.
#27. Maular, the Next Evolution
The first rulebreaker on the list, Maular, the Next Evolution accepts battlecruisers of any color into its mono-green base. The attack trigger is the big draw, and I’d look for creatures that really use it—think Ghalta and Mavren or Flaming Tyrannosaurus.
#26. Greensleeves
Commander players are likely more familiar with Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer, which represented the same character centuries after the events of the story in which she featured—the Greensleeves cycle, the first cycle of Magic novels. I love a planeswalker creating tokens designed to block and protect it. The Giant Badger replicas are much better than the standard 1/1s or 2/2s many planeswalkers make.
Cool as those are, most of the power is in the downticks. Most green decks make that -3 “draw three cards”, which few planeswalkers can rival, and the ultimate is a very convincing finisher. Greensleeves isn’t particularly unique as a green token commander that makes tokens and wins by buffing the team, but it does so at an excellent rate.
#25. Balefang the Unslayable
I don’t consider Balefang the Unslayable top-tier by any means, but I’ve always been fascinated by group slug in Commander. And what slugs opponents better than Baneslayer Angel? Red has ample copy effects like Cursed Mirror and Twinflame to retrigger the enters ability, and soon you can have your opponents sending angels at each other. As for how you win once they’ve beaten each other down, uh… is this commander cool?
#24. Homer, the Hermit
A theme that crops up in MBC are typal commanders for mostly unsupported types. Homer, the Hermit inverts the sea creature archetype to deliver a mill commander that cares about oddities like crabs and starfish, among others. I love that this has dimension and flexibility; you could focus on typal-mill, or you could recognize that this is a 3-mana 0/9 in decent colors to care about Assault Formation and other toughness-matter synergies.
Additionally, we might see more lobster support in the future: Rikala, Homarid King has the lobster type rather than homarid, which could indicate a type errata in the future. And aren’t we about to venture into an underwater kingdom in 2027?
#23. Arzakon
The deep cuts keep going with Arzakon, the main villain of the MicroProse video game Shandalar, which is a wild reference in 2026.
The references extend to the abilities, which are Lightning Bolt, Black Lotus, and Wheel of Fortune, respectively. I can easily envision this built as a Bracket 1 commander that tours the halls of memory lane, pulling on equally obscure references. It's not terrible as a value commander, either. Maximizing this leans on figuring how to best utilize the wheel; Lightning Bolt isn’t much of a Commander card and Black Lotus loses its luster when it costs 5 mana and can’t be recycled from the graveyard.
#22. The Everforger
My gut tells me The Everforger has the least restrictive rulebreaker ability. So few artifact creature payoffs aren’t on artifact creatures that I can’t see the deck suffering. Equipment decks lose much more for lack of cards like Sigarda's Aid and Sram, Senior Edificer, so I’d focus on artifact creatures, probably in an aggressive shell.
#21. Zagorka, Mother of Sanctum
Zagorka, Mother of Sanctum gives group hug decks some new life. The archetype often provides resources like mana or cards to your opponents for a personal boon, but few are as strong as “that player can’t attack you.” That works especially well at mid to low power tables, where winning is generally done in combat. It buys plenty of time to scrounge together a win condition that overcomes the mana you’re giving your opponents.
#20. Grandmother Goby
Blue is best known for its noncreature spells, like countermagic and card draw. Grandmother Goby wisely chooses love over power, turning those iconic spells into a family of merfolk tokens to spoil. Which isn’t to say the ability robs you of power; toss in merfolk lords like Lord of Atlantis and Master of the Pearl Trident and those grandbabies become fierce warriors.
#19. Itazura, Lingering Wick
Itazura, Lingering Wick is such a tricky commander to evaluate. If you ranked commanders on a spectrum from good to fun, Itazura must be towards the fun side. Giving your opponents free spells is almost always a detriment, and you can’t even get funny with bad spells since you need to win by piloting your cards. That said, it seems so interesting to watch the table agonize over how much life can be paid for your juicy spells.
#18. Ekthi, Contaminator Priest
A good equipment commander often cheats the equip cost to get value as fast as possible. Ekthi, Contaminator Priest does this and even provides bodies to carry the equipment. Giving your equipment living weapon means you’re ready to take advantage of any great attack trigger or stat booster the next turn. Maybe sooner, if you have a haste enabler.
#17. Venser, Visionary Traveler
A fan-favorite character has returned with Venser, Visionary Traveler, a card very reminiscent of Venser, the Sojourner—they even share an uptick. But this card is better suited to the command zone, with the static ability that rewards you for flickering creatures and really solid interaction on the downtick (interestingly similar to The Theorist, Jace Beleren’s bounce ability, which makes me wonder if it’s becoming a new standard). It’s a super solid option for Azorius () flicker, though that’s an admittedly saturated archetype.
#16. Jandor, Fortuned Traveler
More niche creature types get repped on Jandor, Fortuned Traveler, like camel and elephant, but I expect decks to lean into beasts as the best supported archetype, supplemented by the odd werewolf. I like this design; giving you a reason to attack with saddled creatures is something the game has lacked since the mechanics introduction, and this is a strong reward: A power buff and a card and a Food token are a lot for an attack trigger that triggers for each individual creature.
#15. Davvol, Evincar of Rath
Davvol is best known from the flavor text of Urza’s Destiny; primarily Carnival of Souls, which paints the evincar as a tragic figure, though other cards hint at the sinister figure in this one.
Carnival of Souls on a stick is a fierce card, but also a risky one: It triggers when opposing creatures enter, so a token player might kill you. Keep sacrifice outlets handy so Davvol doesn’t send you the way of Yawgmoth, and find lots of big spells to ramp into.
#14. Uugguu, the Omniplasm
I have some bias towards Uugguu, the Omniplasm as a lover of Mitotic Slime from back when I started playing. It might be the coolest niche creature type commander, if only because oozes have genuine support. This commander leans into token production, using the commander’s duplicate ability to make copies of oozes that copy themselves, like Biowaste Blob, so you slime the table even faster. Expect lots of token doublers and pump effects.
#13. Tolabow, Loch Rascal
Tolabow, Loch Rascal was the first rulebreaker card previewed, and the most confusing. A day 0 errata helps make it less ambiguous, but it’s still the most restrictive rulebreaker; you need to pick one color, not any color, but I still like the card. Making otters works for literally every other color: Red likes prowess for aggression, white and green are happy to double and buff any tokens they get their hands on, and black never has enough sacrifice fodder.
#12. Thomil, the Destroyer
I often judge planeswalkers without considering their ultimate because it’s unlikely they live long enough to use it, outside examples like Venser that don’t follow the traditional planeswalker formula. That works in Thomil, the Destroyer’s favor as Lord of the Pit isn’t the threat it was. Wizards seemed aware of this because they juiced up the other abilities. Making a token is pretty standard fare, but that 0 is something special. Turning creatures into Dark Ritual is extremely powerful. Commander’s all about that mana advantage, so I have high hopes for a dirty fighter like this.
#11. Rikala, Homarid King
I'm a sucker for mechanics representing themes; whoever adapted the wax and wane of the tides onto a Magic card so efficiently deserves a raise, Wizards. Maybe two.
Rikala, Homarid King puts High Tide on a stick in the colors for untapping lands. You thought mono-blue was bad with Frantic Search? You haven’t seen anything! Look for lots of counter manipulation on cards like Goldberry, River Daughter and Nesting Grounds to keep Rikala on three counters for as long as possible.
#10. The Weaver King
The Weaver King costs a hair too much to be truly terrifying. but I love the theft-reanimator angle. Something important to note here is that while this commander can only reanimate creatures that were milled that turn, it isn’t restricted to creatures milled by its ability. It’s time to break out the Maddening Cacophony!
#9. The Muckslinger Gang
The Muckslinger Gang got a good chuckle out of me as a wacky card that buffs creatures as long as they aren’t in combat. But the more I think about it, the more threatening it becomes. Virtually all your creatures trigger power-matters cards like Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest and Garruk's Uprising, every spaceship or vehicle is stationed or crewed fast, and these are the perfect colors for Fling effects.
#8. Dyfed, the Guiding Hand
Dyfed, the Guiding Hand has all the elements needed for a scary artifact commander. The uptick produces tons of mana and two artifacts for cards like Cyberdrive Awakener and Thought Monitor. The artifact tutor (straight to the battlefield!) is easily achievable and easily assembles a winning combo without putting a spell on the stack to counter. Blue has enough proliferation effects to feasibly ultimate Dyfed the turn after you play it, even. Oh, and untapping artifacts off the -X provides mana to protect Dyfed.
#7. Olag and Miau, New Friends
The pairing of zombies and cats was unexpected but very welcome. Olag and Miau, New Friends is such a well-designed card. Pairing zombies with green and white plays well with the heavy token themes of the archetype and rewarding your typal synergies +1/+1 counters has support across all three colors. Though the creature types seem disparate, the card unifies them under the Abzan () banner so cleverly I can’t help but adore it.
#6. Massimo, the Magician
Massimo, the Magician has exceptional flavor as a Strixhaven double major, wielding the combined magics of Lorehold () and Prismari () for a unique spellslinger commander that focuses on small creatures and a wide board.
You’ll want lots of flying creatures to connect with your opponents and reap the rewards of Massimo’s combat trigger. Though you can only use 1-mana instants and sorceries, many of those are mighty; with options like Erode, Swords to Plowshares, and Flame Slash, I expect this to be a surprisingly controlling commander. Don’t forget Thought Scour and Mental Note to keep the graveyard stocked.
#5. Ashaya’s Enduring Bond
A sorcery that can be your commander is such a huge departure from what the format is that I’m surprised Ashaya's Enduring Bond doesn’t have an acorn stamp, but here we are!
The card’s solid. Gruul () has ample legendary creatures to cast the sorcery, and these are the perfect colors to repeatedly cast a spell that costs more each iteration. Green gives you the ramp to spend 3 mana, then 5, then 7, and so on, while red provides cast-from-exile payoffs like Nalfeshnee and Passionate Archaeologist to turn the discovery into a win.
#4. The Unluckiest Planeswalker
The Unluckiest Planeswalker returns from Commander 2017’s curse cycle, though a trip to Duskmourn hasn’t improved his lot in life. Hey, maybe you can turn that around by putting it in the command zone. You get all the good curses thanks to rulebreaker, plus access to solid ramp enchantments to get them into play. I’m extremely interested in the downtick as a source of card draw you can use the turn you cast the commander.
#3. Grizzlegom, Hurloon Hero
Domain has never been great in Commander because nearly every domain card, including legendary creatures, was designed for Limited. Grizzlegom, Hurloon Hero changes that with rulebreaker plus a text box that rewards you for loading up on basic land types.
As neat as that is, what puts this so high for me is its flexibility. Because Grizzlegom cares about each instance of the land type and doesn’t just make you race to five, as the pilot you have lots of flexibility over your build. You could lean into plains for a token strategy, supplemented by red and green, or focus on mountains and swamps for a Voltron-style build. That adds a lot of nuance to the brewing process.
#2. The Madcap Jester
Most theft commanders focus on a small way to steal cards, like an enter or attack trigger. The Madcap Jester is much more wide-ranging, which makes it special. Tasha's Hideous Laughter becomes a super draw spell, Extract becomes Demonic Tutor but better, and we finally have a real reason to run Sire of Stagnation.
#1. Whtz, the Bibliophile
Perhaps the most exciting commander of the set, Whtz, the Bibliophile has the simplest rulebreaker ability, but it finally unlocks cards Commander players have been clamoring to play, namely Battle of Wits and Yorion, Sky Nomad as a companion.
I see this being a devastating control commander. With 200+ cards, you can play every answer and all the tutors to find what matters most at any given time. Whtz supplements this with a stream of card advantage, which should never cost anything. That low cost encourages untap effects like Aphetto Alchemist for even more cards.
Commanding Conclusion
The Madcap Jester | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing
Mystery Booster Commander Edition was an absolute surprise filled with legendary gems. I worry about distribution considering that MBC will only be available at MagicCons and through Festival-in-a-Box, but we’ll have to see if players get these awesome cards at a decent price.
What do you think of the MBC commanders? Do you enjoy rulebreaker? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord! If you want more Draftsim content, check out our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
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