New Mystery Booster Commander Is Insane Changeling Tech

Last updated on August 10, 2026

Nephilim Epochal | Illustration by Simon Dominic

Among the many callbacks in Mystery Booster Commander Edition’s 60 unique commanders is Nephilim Epochal, the typal commander for the scant five nephilim from Guildpact. They have a storied history in commander as non-legendary creatures often rule 0’d into the command zone, as four-color commanders are a relatively new invention. But five nephilim doesn’t fill a deck, making Nephilim Epochal the perfect choice for a five-color changeling brew, with a few key elements.

To Orvar or Not to Orvar

The best choice to make in this theoretical build is whether or not you want to run Orvar, the All-Form and the heavy deckbuilding restrictions to support its copy ability.

I’m inclined to say yes because the original nephilim are lots of fun and non-legendary, so making copies of them is a special treat. You can even copy the commander for additional tutors triggers.

That deckbuilding restriction is the need for instants and sorceries that target your permanents to trigger Orvar. Super cheap ones that cantrip like Expedite, Aphotic Wisps, and Shadow Rift are ideal.

Also consider other clones attached to instants and sorceries; cards like Croaking Counterpart and Quasiduplicate trigger Orvar and make their own copies.

Depending on how deep you want to go on Orvar, you could even build a dedicated spellslinger deck with cards like Zada, Hedron Grinder, Storm-Kiln Artist, and Feather, the Redeemed to use Orvar and abandon the changelings all together.

Good Changelings

Realmwalker | Illustration by Zack Stella

Changelings are nephilim, in addition to everything else, so they benefit from the Epochal’s tutor and massive anthem. Thus, you want to pack the deck with all the good changelings, and cards that create them.

It’s only natural to start with the other major changeling commander, Morophon, the Boundless, which stacks an additional anthem and provides decent ramp. Chomping Changeling isn’t far behind as a Reclamation Sage with typal synergies. Realmwalker provides on-theme card advantage.

Tauren Mauler

Since Nephilim Epochal offers a huge anthem, look for aggressive changelings with evasive abilities. Tauren Mauler doesn’t need the anthem to be a massive threat, but it shines even brighter was an additional three or four power. Mothdust Changeling and Changeling Outcast both carry the anthem well and enhance it as 1-drop nephilim.

Cards that make changeling tokens are also super valuable for improving the anthem. Anthems work best when spread across multiple bodies; that’s especial true for anthems like this one that scale with those bodies. For those reasons, cards like Belonging, Springleaf Parade, and Irregular Cohort are close to must-plays.

Lords of Many Shades

Magic has many general typal support cards to suit any build, like And They Shall Know No Fear and Herald's Horn. While those are absolutely worth including (especially one-sided board wipes like Raise the Palisade) another benefit to a mostly changeling deck is the ability to utilize lords from diverse strategies.

Choice options Lord of the Unreal for hexproof, Elvish Archdruid for mana production, and Cloudshredder Sliver for evasion. Add these with a light hand; there are diminishing turns to having too many lords and nothing for them to buff. But I’m inclined to play more than zero of these effects.

Multicolors-Matter

Having many colors is pretty much the defining trait of the nephilim, and Commander has lots of ways to capitalize on that, with cards like Conqueror's Flail, Knight of New Alara, and Jared Carthalion all improving your board.

Your mileage may vary on multicolor-matters cards. These work well for decks that hone in on Ovar and other copy effects to make multiple copies of the original nephilim. But if you choose another strategy, say more changelings and less copies or the spellslinger path, these might not be worth the slots. Nephilim Epocal has an astonishing amount of flexibility for a typal commander.