I think the background idea is pretty cool. It's something new, not too op and I'm glad they're not bringing more partner commanders out. I really don't like the red one, we've got enough treasures
Its a good way for draft to have 2 to three coloured decks without having to print new partner commander wich could potentially make old partner even stronger
@@yueffstueff6542 I will say, I love some of the "Partner with" commanders. They're mostly on the same level as those 2/3 color commander's with a novel of rules text, just split up
I think another way of resolving that issue would be to have only mono colored partner cards and to have 2 color partners have partner with. That way, you can still increase the pool of available partner combinations but not have 4 color good stuff partner decks.
Back when AFR released, I wanted to develop a variant on Commander where you used the Class enchantments as your Commander. Now, I want that but also paired with Backgrounds.
They revealed what initiative is when they revealed the Undercity. It is just when you take the initiative or during your upkeep, venture into the Undercity. And it does work like monarch
Cultist of the Absolute sounds like an auto-include in my “Olivia, Crimson Bride” deck. (When Olivia attacks, return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield that is tapped and attacking).
Interesting thing about the cultist background, the sacrifice text ONLY applies to the commander, so you can play this on T1 and build your board with creatures and will only start sacrificing when you play your commander...
I need a colorless creature that has partner and choose a background so I can have it, prismatic piper, and faceless one... (also maybe Rograk with backgrounds...)
Cultist of the Absolute looks amazing for my new Henzie deck, or any aristocrats deck. I see no downsides lol Scion of Halaster looks cool too, seems like these two could pair well together, then you can get creatures out of your graveyard through reanimation effects, abuse Blood Artist style plays They go with Criminal Past well too...it's like those three were made to go together. Perfect in a mono-black Syr Konrad deck I'd say
Bear Cult! Wilson, Refined Grizzly with Cultist of the Absolute as a background for one, green, and black... a 5/5 with Flying, Vigilance, Reach, Trample, Deathtouch, and ward two and ward pay three life... That can't be countered.
I feel these backgrounds feel a lot more like companions(from ikoria) than partner commanders. They are in support of your commander like the companion mechanic was.
Of course they feel similar, because they come from the same petty place. WotC tried to rip off commanders with the partner thing, and now they're trying to rip off Oathbreaker.
They don't feel like companion. Literally if you made every single one of these background cards have a creature type and give it one 1/1 for power and toughness. This would be virtually identical took partner. It's just like the friends forever thing. Companions exist outside the game and they aren't affected by Commander tax and they require you to pay 3 to put them into your hand before you can cast them. These enchantments on the other hand do exist in your command Zone when they are removed from the battlefield that go back to your command Zone and they are affected by Commander tax. The dude below you who compared it to oathbreaker was more accurate.
@@Grimjr7 I'm allowed to express my feelings on a matter, and in this case those are my feelings. That you experienced Companions post mechanics nerf where they had those extra pay3 then go to hand then the battlefield adjustments doesn't mean that's how other players remember it. For the most part companions were used shortly after the Ikoria release at that point the card's didn't have extra costs nor were they ever put into your hand, but rather directly from the command zone onto the battlefield. I agree that partner and friends forever are near identical because the cards require the other card to also in turn require themselves. each portion of the partnership has the same textual aspect. On top of that the commander that is associated with the background has the text choose a background, while the background has the card enchantment type 'Background'. This is more like the -learn- 'Lesson' mechanic though. So there are definitly more than the few adjustments you mention differentiating these from what would otherwise be a partner, partner with or friends forever mechanic.
This is starting to cross into something I've been waiting to happen which is the ability to have non creature spells as commanders. Like imagine having an instant or sorcereries you could potentially recast but it has an incremental cost each time you do. Obviously, these would need to be specially designated like the background cards are, because certain instants/sorcereries that already exist being recastable could lead to easy infinites we would want to avoid. (Maybe being only able to cast said spell once a turn would help avoid infinites)
Does Faceless One just add a color to any deck with a single commander? Wouldn't you just pick Faceless One as the Background and then partner it with a regular legendary creature?
I believe faceless one is both a background that can be given to a commander, and a commander that can be given a background. You can only give a background to a commander that has "choose a background"
Backgrounds do not go with all creatures. The creature MUST have "Choose a Background." Faceless One is both a Background and has "Chose a Background" so it can either count as the one Background you get from another "Choose a Background" commander or you can use it as your Legendary Creature and choose a different background. Very flexible. It was be a very good draft pull.
Cultist of the absolute is incredible in Judith the Scourge Diva. It basically reads on your end step destroy target creature + get any sac synergy very OP.
With Guild Artisan, it says "commander creatures you own" so if control of your commander passed to another player, they could use it to attack the highest life total player, and then I believe they would get the treasure tokens. Is there a red commander that would swap control around like that? I feel there are some creatures at least, but I don't know if they're in legendary.
I’m not sure I understand the Faceless One. So I could have a Gruul commander, have Faceless One as my background, choose it to be black, then stick a bunch of black cards in my deck? I could potentially do this and never bring Faceless One out of the command zone, just basically use it to bring another colour into my deck. Is this right?
@@psyonicpanda ah okay, I get it now. Just checked Scryfall and all the commanders that allow a Background are mono. I thought it could be the background of any commander!
Hey, did you see that faceless one is a creature, all backgrounds say commander creatures you own... CREATURES, that makes all your background triggers happen twice,so when i put this in my Renari, Merchant of Marvels, and Acolyte of Bahamut deck it made all my dragons have flash, and the first dragon i cast each turn is 4 less, so i plopped in red and now i have a but-load of big mana cost dragons that I am casting as instants for nothing. Not to mention that if you used this with Guild Artisan and that red dragon, Ganax, Astral Hunter, you will be making 4 treasure tokens each time you attack with ether of them, 8 if you attack with both, and a treasure when a dragon enters under your control
I have a res green commander deck that uses Ganax, astral hunter (3/4 flying dragon, when dragons enter you get a treasure) and acolyte of Bahamut (first dragon spell per turn is 2 less to cast) and so far it's holding it's own.
Even though its banned, my brain immediately went to Champions of Archery with Sol, Advocate Eternal. Being able to have all the pets (Anara, Esior, Falthis, Kediss and Keleth) as commanders, AND these background effects. It seems interesting.
Yeah, at least that's what I'm pretty sure they said during the live stream this morning. Backgrounds will also have their own commander tax, so they'll cost more each time you cast them from the command zone.
@@cresty would not it havemore sense to limit this mechanic just for creature background, like "Faceless One"? Maybe creating more and more versions: cheaper ones with weaker stats or downsides, bigger ones with other abilities too, colored one with some thematic ability, etc
I have a great build for criminal past background i have it combined with amber o grist when this creature attacks you may discard your hand so using this and criminal past is very fun
Now the question is do backgrounds function as partners where it’s technically a 101st card in your commander deck? Cause I’ve been looking to change the colours for my angel deck from white red to white/blue/black, now there are no legendary angel cards that are white/blue/black, so what if I choose white/blue for my angel commander and I choose faceless one and go with black for the colour? I think that would work out in an interesting way
Sadly you cant just choose anything, it must have "choose a background" in the card in order to get one, so unless one comes out your idea wouldnt work.
Yeah I noticed that too late, that’s such a shame tbh, however I’m sure my play group won’t care tbh so maybe I’ll just send it, cause I like the idea of extra cards that sort of modify a deck like companions and now backgrounds
Immediately made me think of an equipment type- heirloom. That would attach to a commander creature you control on etb . And also can be a second commander.
Generally speaking - I like these. I think they go towards supporting a myriad of playstyles, which is always good. Having more variety is always a good thing in Commander. Can't wait to see what they'll keep revealing and I'm hoping to whatever gods in the Forgotten Realms that they'll reveal Strahd, either as a creature or a plainswalker.
Hello, i have a question please: can i only use this with my commander? what happens if i play a legendary creature with "choose a background" can i search for a background in my sideboard and play it for its manacost? or does it simply not work?
Does the faceless one let you choose 2 backgrounds then, including itself? Since you could have a commander with choose a background, choose the faceless one, the faceless one let's you choose a background, so you choose another one.
The rules haven’t been specifically laid out yet for us to see but Faceless One is almost certainly to be exactly the same as The Prismatic Piper, where during a Commander Draft game only you are allowed to have no more than exactly 2 of it in your deck as both commanders only and you can add it to your draft deck from outside the game if you did not draft an acceptable commander for the cards that you did draft. This means that it could be both your Commander Creature and your Background Enchantment to give you a 2 color deck, but you wouldn’t be allowed to keep adding more and more of it to make a 3, 4, or 5 color deck and you also won’t get to add another different Background either on top of the two of them.
When you cast your commander are you also casting that background?. Can you cast one and not the other? If one is destroyed, does the other stay and you can bring it back? What is the actual mechanics haha?
Raised by Giants is defenitely going to be in consideration to go in my Tahngarth, First Mate forced combat deck. Cultist of the Absolute also reminds me of Eldrazi Monument, but for only your commander. Kinda wish that one of the black backgrounds would have been a white instead, that way each color got a background.
Guys i still dont get it.. is it in your command zone from the start of the game? Or do i need to cast those spells that say you can choose a background first? Thnx
I think I used to find the Choose a Background and Background cards to be a letdown, as I was hoping for more partners, but after seeing some combinations, I got to work on some new decks, and I spiced up some non-background commanders... now, as for... ...Faceless One... you can combine with Alora (Merry Thief) and you can go with constellation triggers in Azorius, Dimir, Izzet (maybe), and Simic. I have Faceless One currently in the 99 of my Traxos (Scourge of Kroog) historic brew, and the background is the only historic permanent besides Urza's Saga which works with both sides of Roadside Reliquary. Prismatic Piper is also in the 99, though the colorless draft legends are (currently) just in for the commander's historic untap trigger as well as kicks and giggles. Agent of the Iron Throne, Criminal Past, Cultist of the Absolute, and Scion of Halaster are all in the 99 of my Gisa (Glorious Ressurector) attrition + aristocrats brew, which has Reassembling Skeleton, and I plan to add more as I update the deck.
So it's just partner that only works with cards that say choose a background? I was kind of excited thinking any commander could use a background. They could even have play mats that are backgrounds. Missed opportunity
To me this feels like partner pre commander legends: there are only a few options with choose a background and a few backgrounds, so you’re not going to have very interesting combinations of commanders, but are just going to play them for value. I haven’t looked at all the spoilers tho so I dunno. I liked the way companions and cml partners let you choose stuff that worked together and gave you a plethora of options.
Yeah, it's like a bridge between "partner" and "partners with." You have some options, just not too many. Bet that made it easier to playtest, at least
Hello, i have a question. I saw a background that say "the first dragon spell you cast each turn costs 2 less". I'm wondering...this effect work even if the commander is in the command zone? both is a normal commander or a commander with "choose a background"
1: can you play backgrounds like normal enchantments? 2: can you destroy your background in the command zone? 3: do your command zone background count as having a permanent/enchantment in play at all times its in your command zone? 4: can you target your background in the zommand zone? 5: is there any difference playing a background on the board from in the command zone?
I've got one question Mitch will this be a card of the 99 or does this add to the 100 to make it 101? I'm thinking it's going to take the place of one of the 99. Thanks for your help buddy. KEEP STAYING PAWZITIVE BRO
Hmm...can you have partners, and a companion, AND a background? I know a companion is like your 101st card. Is a background gonna be like your 102nd card? Or is it like part of the 99?
I have to assume it'll be part of the 100 cards like Partners. And from how I understand it, it's not compatible with Partner. If I'm understanding this correctly, there are cards with Choose a Background that specifically partner with a Background. Basically like if you needed 1 Partner and 1 Friends forever to partner them.
I think this is a pretty cool take on a sort of 'partner' restricted commanders. However I feel like some of these could be a little overpowered for their CMC. That last one even if its in your 99 is a huge pay off for just 1 mana, in decks that revolve around sacing its almost a must to put in I feel.
Background may be broken like Companion, only it’s an Enchantment instead of a creature. There is a wicked White one to add to Rin & Siri. +2/+2 to all tokens? Yes please. (Inspiring Leader) Also an example of using a Backround and not adding another color.
i thought you could only add a background to a legebdary creature that says "choose a background"? can still have it in the deck though, which is nice.
First I was like "eh?" about backgrounds but when I started to think about it.... It's an interesting mechanism and from a fluff standpoint,there can be fun combos to be made (add Raised by Giants to a Ghatterfang/Toski-deck for some fluff fun w a gigantic squirrel :P)
So the background text says "You can have a background as a second Commander" Does this mean you can pair ALL commanders historically with these new cards to add the additional colours of the background to the original commander? E.g. A Kiki jiki with blue
no it's like partner only creatures with "choose a background" can have a background as a 2nd commander but you can always run them in the 99 or house rules
@@neillawBoth are abilites that have to be on the card you are picking as a commander "partner" let's you pick a 2nd commander as long as both has partner "Pick a background" let's you pick a 2nd commander that has to be a background
@@nolife874 but... That's effectively the same thing lol Am I being really dumb here... Or have wotc just implemented basically partner but renamed it and enforced the mechanic to act independently?
@@neillaw they are both abilites a card can have. think first strike and double strike both do the same thing letting a creature deal dmg in the frist strike step but double strike let's them still deal normal dmg. Also on a side note there is also "partner with x " which let's you have a 2nd commanders as long as it's x And "friends forever" which let's you have a 2nd commander as long as it has friends forever
Of course white is missing I hope for a card giving, let's say, +2/+1, vigilance, double strike and "whenever this commander deals combat damage, you may draw a card"; maybe for 2WW. It would be nice
There are two white ones that we know of right now. Noble Heritage 1W - Commanders creatures you own have "When this creature ETBs and at the beginning o f your upkeep, each player may put two +1/+1 counters on a creature they control. For each opponent who does, you can protection from that player until your next turn." There's a second one I can't find right now because it was a very early leak on a cell phone camera that is - Commander creatures you own gain "Token creatures you control gain +2/+2."
@@marcoottina654 There's a third one I missed. Veteran Soldier 1W - Commander creatures you own gain, "Whenever this creature attacks a player, if not opponent has more life than that player, for each opponent create a 1/1 white soldier token that is tapped and attacking that player." The +2/+2 tokens background is called Inspiring Leader and it's 2W.
No, you can choose it as your Background for another card, or choose a Background to pair with it, but you can't choose it as the background for it's own effect.
So for functionality's sake, is this a 101st, card, or do you make your deck 98 and have two commanders, one with "choose a background" and another "background"? Does it go back to the command zone when destroyed? Can you recast it with commander tax, similar to a partner commander? does it have to match the color identity of your other commander, or can it be any color and the two identities of your commander and your background define the color identity of the rest of the deck?
I think the background idea is pretty cool. It's something new, not too op and I'm glad they're not bringing more partner commanders out. I really don't like the red one, we've got enough treasures
Less treasures, more mutate :)
@@mibbzx1493 mutate is sitting on a waiting room alongside emerge, even cascade and devour got some atention...
Its a good way for draft to have 2 to three coloured decks without having to print new partner commander wich could potentially make old partner even stronger
@@yueffstueff6542 I will say, I love some of the "Partner with" commanders. They're mostly on the same level as those 2/3 color commander's with a novel of rules text, just split up
I think another way of resolving that issue would be to have only mono colored partner cards and to have 2 color partners have partner with. That way, you can still increase the pool of available partner combinations but not have 4 color good stuff partner decks.
Back when AFR released, I wanted to develop a variant on Commander where you used the Class enchantments as your Commander. Now, I want that but also paired with Backgrounds.
I have another one "What the hell is initiative" there are no cards explaining what it is, I think it's similar to Monarch?
They revealed what initiative is when they revealed the Undercity. It is just when you take the initiative or during your upkeep, venture into the Undercity. And it does work like monarch
@@denilias4012
Which I love for my limited Commander games.
Cultist of the Absolute sounds like an auto-include in my “Olivia, Crimson Bride” deck. (When Olivia attacks, return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield that is tapped and attacking).
Also works with Edgar Markov and his board flood
All backgrounds in the 99 of a Sisay weatherlight captain deck
Ok, but this actually sounds amazing.
Interesting thing about the cultist background, the sacrifice text ONLY applies to the commander, so you can play this on T1 and build your board with creatures and will only start sacrificing when you play your commander...
Sounds extremely useful for Meren, I might test run it and see how it feels.
I need a colorless creature that has partner and choose a background so I can have it, prismatic piper, and faceless one... (also maybe Rograk with backgrounds...)
imagine rograk with raised by giants
Cultist of the Absolute looks amazing for my new Henzie deck, or any aristocrats deck. I see no downsides lol
Scion of Halaster looks cool too, seems like these two could pair well together, then you can get creatures out of your graveyard through reanimation effects, abuse Blood Artist style plays
They go with Criminal Past well too...it's like those three were made to go together. Perfect in a mono-black Syr Konrad deck I'd say
Can you play backgrounds in your 99 just as a enchantment ?. As wouldnt really want change some my commanders to add ones with background option.
Bear Cult!
Wilson, Refined Grizzly with Cultist of the Absolute as a background for one, green, and black... a 5/5 with Flying, Vigilance, Reach, Trample, Deathtouch, and ward two and ward pay three life... That can't be countered.
That is pretty cool sounding. plus there are a couple G/B bears you get to use then. Personally, I will just be adding Wilson to my Ayula bears deck.
@@yueffstueff6542 Flample means you can't be Chumped by a bunch of 1/1 fliers and Deathtouch and vigilance are a nice pair too.
But you will need to have other creatures to be sacrificed on the upkeep
@@James-vl2hh Golgari loves sacrificing creatures and can churn out tons of cheap tokens. I'm thinking a Voltron/aristocrats hybrid deck.
@@TheKensta88 sheesh
I feel these backgrounds feel a lot more like companions(from ikoria) than partner commanders. They are in support of your commander like the companion mechanic was.
Of course they feel similar, because they come from the same petty place. WotC tried to rip off commanders with the partner thing, and now they're trying to rip off Oathbreaker.
They don't feel like companion. Literally if you made every single one of these background cards have a creature type and give it one 1/1 for power and toughness. This would be virtually identical took partner. It's just like the friends forever thing.
Companions exist outside the game and they aren't affected by Commander tax and they require you to pay 3 to put them into your hand before you can cast them.
These enchantments on the other hand do exist in your command Zone when they are removed from the battlefield that go back to your command Zone and they are affected by Commander tax.
The dude below you who compared it to oathbreaker was more accurate.
@@Grimjr7 I'm allowed to express my feelings on a matter, and in this case those are my feelings. That you experienced Companions post mechanics nerf where they had those extra pay3 then go to hand then the battlefield adjustments doesn't mean that's how other players remember it. For the most part companions were used shortly after the Ikoria release at that point the card's didn't have extra costs nor were they ever put into your hand, but rather directly from the command zone onto the battlefield. I agree that partner and friends forever are near identical because the cards require the other card to also in turn require themselves. each portion of the partnership has the same textual aspect. On top of that the commander that is associated with the background has the text choose a background, while the background has the card enchantment type 'Background'. This is more like the -learn- 'Lesson' mechanic though.
So there are definitly more than the few adjustments you mention differentiating these from what would otherwise be a partner, partner with or friends forever mechanic.
raised by giants in a toski deck would be hilarious
He becomes a giant rodent. So he Becomes Boo
Also I like this idea, it would be kinda nice if we could also get some companions that aren’t hyper specific aswell
This is starting to cross into something I've been waiting to happen which is the ability to have non creature spells as commanders. Like imagine having an instant or sorcereries you could potentially recast but it has an incremental cost each time you do. Obviously, these would need to be specially designated like the background cards are, because certain instants/sorcereries that already exist being recastable could lead to easy infinites we would want to avoid. (Maybe being only able to cast said spell once a turn would help avoid infinites)
Does Faceless One just add a color to any deck with a single commander? Wouldn't you just pick Faceless One as the Background and then partner it with a regular legendary creature?
I believe faceless one is both a background that can be given to a commander, and a commander that can be given a background. You can only give a background to a commander that has "choose a background"
Backgrounds do not go with all creatures. The creature MUST have "Choose a Background." Faceless One is both a Background and has "Chose a Background" so it can either count as the one Background you get from another "Choose a Background" commander or you can use it as your Legendary Creature and choose a different background. Very flexible. It was be a very good draft pull.
Cultist of the absolute is incredible in Judith the Scourge Diva. It basically reads on your end step destroy target creature + get any sac synergy very OP.
With Guild Artisan, it says "commander creatures you own" so if control of your commander passed to another player, they could use it to attack the highest life total player, and then I believe they would get the treasure tokens. Is there a red commander that would swap control around like that? I feel there are some creatures at least, but I don't know if they're in legendary.
I’m not sure I understand the Faceless One. So I could have a Gruul commander, have Faceless One as my background, choose it to be black, then stick a bunch of black cards in my deck? I could potentially do this and never bring Faceless One out of the command zone, just basically use it to bring another colour into my deck. Is this right?
As long as the other commander has the "choose a background" text on it. It's basically partner.
@@psyonicpanda ah okay, I get it now. Just checked Scryfall and all the commanders that allow a Background are mono. I thought it could be the background of any commander!
@@ashjamben Would be broken. This video doesn't explain it very well.
I have to imagine Cultist of the Absolute would also be great in any deck that makes lots of creature tokens.Looking at you, Chatterfang...
Hey, did you see that faceless one is a creature, all backgrounds say commander creatures you own... CREATURES, that makes all your background triggers happen twice,so when i put this in my Renari, Merchant of Marvels, and Acolyte of Bahamut deck it made all my dragons have flash, and the first dragon i cast each turn is 4 less, so i plopped in red and now i have a but-load of big mana cost dragons that I am casting as instants for nothing. Not to mention that if you used this with Guild Artisan and that red dragon, Ganax, Astral Hunter, you will be making 4 treasure tokens each time you attack with ether of them, 8 if you attack with both, and a treasure when a dragon enters under your control
Isnt faceless one for 3 colored decks? You got the creature commander who lets you choose a commander who also lets you choose another commander
I have a res green commander deck that uses Ganax, astral hunter (3/4 flying dragon, when dragons enter you get a treasure) and acolyte of Bahamut (first dragon spell per turn is 2 less to cast) and so far it's holding it's own.
Even though its banned, my brain immediately went to Champions of Archery with Sol, Advocate Eternal. Being able to have all the pets (Anara, Esior, Falthis, Kediss and Keleth) as commanders, AND these background effects. It seems interesting.
so, this is Prismatic Piper, but functional and warps commander in a fun way? I'm sold.
I like the scion with sedris, seems pretty broken. Draw, mill, venture into a dungeon, reanimate
Criminal Past seems to be a solid addition to Greven
So the background cards can count as your commander, and be recast from the command zone if necessary?
Yeah, at least that's what I'm pretty sure they said during the live stream this morning. Backgrounds will also have their own commander tax, so they'll cost more each time you cast them from the command zone.
@@cresty would not it havemore sense to limit this mechanic just for creature background, like "Faceless One"? Maybe creating more and more versions: cheaper ones with weaker stats or downsides, bigger ones with other abilities too, colored one with some thematic ability, etc
Let's say the "choose a background" card is part of the 99. Do I search my deck for the/a background card then shuffle?
I have a great build for criminal past background i have it combined with amber o grist when this creature attacks you may discard your hand so using this and criminal past is very fun
The background being an enchantment that can keep coming back from the command zone is sick♡
Already keen to build lulu raised by giants cause I think that would be pretty cute♡
And wanted to build Prismatic Piper
the white background seems really cool
So based on cards reading can you add a background to partners commanders????
How does it work with " friends forever" text I Wonder
The personalized flavor potential is big
okay but what if i have bruse tarl+tymna as partner commanders then play raised by giants in the 98 :p
Can we put background back to command zone when it is removed ? And pay 2 more to reuse them ?
How does it work if the choose a background card is in the 99? Does it ignore the choose a background text?
Now the question is do backgrounds function as partners where it’s technically a 101st card in your commander deck? Cause I’ve been looking to change the colours for my angel deck from white red to white/blue/black, now there are no legendary angel cards that are white/blue/black, so what if I choose white/blue for my angel commander and I choose faceless one and go with black for the colour? I think that would work out in an interesting way
Sadly you cant just choose anything, it must have "choose a background" in the card in order to get one, so unless one comes out your idea wouldnt work.
But lol i also kove the idea of an esper angel deck,
Yeah I noticed that too late, that’s such a shame tbh, however I’m sure my play group won’t care tbh so maybe I’ll just send it, cause I like the idea of extra cards that sort of modify a deck like companions and now backgrounds
Immediately made me think of an equipment type- heirloom. That would attach to a commander creature you control on etb . And also can be a second commander.
Generally speaking - I like these. I think they go towards supporting a myriad of playstyles, which is always good. Having more variety is always a good thing in Commander. Can't wait to see what they'll keep revealing and I'm hoping to whatever gods in the Forgotten Realms that they'll reveal Strahd, either as a creature or a plainswalker.
So can a background just be an enchantment in any deck? Or does it need to be in command zone?
Hello,
i have a question please:
can i only use this with my commander?
what happens if i play a legendary creature with "choose a background"
can i search for a background in my sideboard and play it for its manacost?
or does it simply not work?
Green white sythis enchantment voltron now? Add ethereal armor and nettlecyst and you’ve got one hell of a dangerous magic lady
These seem really interesting, excited to see more
Does the faceless one let you choose 2 backgrounds then, including itself? Since you could have a commander with choose a background, choose the faceless one, the faceless one let's you choose a background, so you choose another one.
Hmmmm I doubt it works that way... but maybe?
The rules haven’t been specifically laid out yet for us to see but Faceless One is almost certainly to be exactly the same as The Prismatic Piper, where during a Commander Draft game only you are allowed to have no more than exactly 2 of it in your deck as both commanders only and you can add it to your draft deck from outside the game if you did not draft an acceptable commander for the cards that you did draft. This means that it could be both your Commander Creature and your Background Enchantment to give you a 2 color deck, but you wouldn’t be allowed to keep adding more and more of it to make a 3, 4, or 5 color deck and you also won’t get to add another different Background either on top of the two of them.
Does my commander need “choose a background”, or can I use a background with any Commander?
When you cast your commander are you also casting that background?. Can you cast one and not the other? If one is destroyed, does the other stay and you can bring it back? What is the actual mechanics haha?
Love spoiler season!!
Raised by Giants is defenitely going to be in consideration to go in my Tahngarth, First Mate forced combat deck. Cultist of the Absolute also reminds me of Eldrazi Monument, but for only your commander. Kinda wish that one of the black backgrounds would have been a white instead, that way each color got a background.
Would cultists be good in Yuriko the Sac her and bring her back again?
Guys i still dont get it.. is it in your command zone from the start of the game? Or do i need to cast those spells that say you can choose a background first? Thnx
I think I used to find the Choose a Background and Background cards to be a letdown, as I was hoping for more partners, but after seeing some combinations, I got to work on some new decks, and I spiced up some non-background commanders... now, as for...
...Faceless One...
you can combine with Alora (Merry Thief) and you can go with constellation triggers in Azorius, Dimir, Izzet (maybe), and Simic. I have Faceless One currently in the 99 of my Traxos (Scourge of Kroog) historic brew, and the background is the only historic permanent besides Urza's Saga which works with both sides of Roadside Reliquary. Prismatic Piper is also in the 99, though the colorless draft legends are (currently) just in for the commander's historic untap trigger as well as kicks and giggles.
Agent of the Iron Throne, Criminal Past, Cultist of the Absolute, and Scion of Halaster are all in the 99 of my Gisa (Glorious Ressurector) attrition + aristocrats brew, which has Reassembling Skeleton, and I plan to add more as I update the deck.
So it's just partner that only works with cards that say choose a background? I was kind of excited thinking any commander could use a background. They could even have play mats that are backgrounds. Missed opportunity
Backgrounds are big pretty images on your laptop or PC home screen. 😁
Not sure about the backgrounds but Guild artisan will be tested in my five colour sisay deck.
To me this feels like partner pre commander legends: there are only a few options with choose a background and a few backgrounds, so you’re not going to have very interesting combinations of commanders, but are just going to play them for value. I haven’t looked at all the spoilers tho so I dunno. I liked the way companions and cml partners let you choose stuff that worked together and gave you a plethora of options.
Yeah, it's like a bridge between "partner" and "partners with." You have some options, just not too many. Bet that made it easier to playtest, at least
No White Backgrounds showcased :(
There was one, but Mitch missed it. Check out MagicSpoiler or MythicSpoiler
Raised by giants definitely goes in my Marvyn deck
Hello, i have a question. I saw a background that say "the first dragon spell you cast each turn costs 2 less". I'm wondering...this effect work even if the commander is in the command zone? both is a normal commander or a commander with "choose a background"
You commander need to be on the board. The enchant give the commander the ability but he still need to be on the board to take effect.
@@Gallois59 thank you!
Question: do the backgrounds need to match the commanders color identify or do the add to it like partner does?
Add to it
question , can any commander have background of their respective color?
Love this new mechanic!!! great design and fun
Adds more versatility to Commander decks
Raised by giants in rafiq is gonna be an absolute unit
1: can you play backgrounds like normal enchantments?
2: can you destroy your background in the command zone?
3: do your command zone background count as having a permanent/enchantment in play at all times its in your command zone?
4: can you target your background in the zommand zone?
5: is there any difference playing a background on the board from in the command zone?
Raised by Giants in Tuvasa... Faces shall be smashed.
what no mono white or multicolored?
I've got one question Mitch will this be a card of the 99 or does this add to the 100 to make it 101? I'm thinking it's going to take the place of one of the 99. Thanks for your help buddy. KEEP STAYING PAWZITIVE BRO
Hmm...can you have partners, and a companion, AND a background? I know a companion is like your 101st card. Is a background gonna be like your 102nd card? Or is it like part of the 99?
I have to assume it'll be part of the 100 cards like Partners. And from how I understand it, it's not compatible with Partner. If I'm understanding this correctly, there are cards with Choose a Background that specifically partner with a Background. Basically like if you needed 1 Partner and 1 Friends forever to partner them.
@@alicetheaxolotl That's what the first one looked like but haven't seen any others yet. I guess more will be spoiled soon
I think this is a pretty cool take on a sort of 'partner' restricted commanders. However I feel like some of these could be a little overpowered for their CMC. That last one even if its in your 99 is a huge pay off for just 1 mana, in decks that revolve around sacing its almost a must to put in I feel.
would a commander with changeling be a background?
no, same with shrine. changeling states it has every creature type whereas backgrounds and shrines are enchantment types
Does backgrounds work as partner replacement
No, you can only have a background in the command zone if you have a commander that says chose a background. You can have them in the 99 though.
Guild Artisan is soooo going into my Jolene deck!
Also I believe I have all these backgrounds and it love the background idea
Raised by Giants was designed specifically for Omnath, Locus of Mana, and you can't convince me otherwise.
Why would someone design a card for a commander that is 12 years old and can't even be used as a backround for that commander?
@@SamuelKacerik Well that flew over your head.
@@Sothas I am not trying to be stupid here I am just not sure how serious were you about your post.
I think this is a juicy target for Goyf players
Oh boy do i need raised by giants for my alena and helna partners deck (i always mess this up so im aware i cant spell this card right)
Thanks for this.
So is faceless one the only commander with choose a background on it?
No, all mono colored commanders in this set will have "Choose a background"
@@KBgamer2010 okay cool, thanks.
Mmm Old Stickfingers voltron wants all of le green and black ones
Background may be broken like Companion, only it’s an Enchantment instead of a creature. There is a wicked White one to add to Rin & Siri. +2/+2 to all tokens? Yes please. (Inspiring Leader) Also an example of using a Backround and not adding another color.
i thought you could only add a background to a legebdary creature that says "choose a background"? can still have it in the deck though, which is nice.
Raised by Giants + Grunn, The Lonely King + anything that gives him +x & trample. One shot kill
First I was like "eh?" about backgrounds but when I started to think about it.... It's an interesting mechanism and from a fluff standpoint,there can be fun combos to be made (add Raised by Giants to a Ghatterfang/Toski-deck for some fluff fun w a gigantic squirrel :P)
i hope my playgroup will be cool with partnering a partner commander with a background. i just wanna play a rograkh raised by giants
So the background text says "You can have a background as a second Commander"
Does this mean you can pair ALL commanders historically with these new cards to add the additional colours of the background to the original commander? E.g. A Kiki jiki with blue
no it's like partner only creatures with "choose a background" can have a background as a 2nd commander but you can always run them in the 99 or house rules
@@nolife874 seems bizarre, what's the diff between partner and background?
@@neillawBoth are abilites that have to be on the card you are picking as a commander
"partner" let's you pick a 2nd commander as long as both has partner
"Pick a background" let's you pick a 2nd commander that has to be a background
@@nolife874 but... That's effectively the same thing lol
Am I being really dumb here... Or have wotc just implemented basically partner but renamed it and enforced the mechanic to act independently?
@@neillaw they are both abilites a card can have.
think first strike and double strike both do the same thing letting a creature deal dmg in the frist strike step but double strike let's them still deal normal dmg.
Also on a side note there is also
"partner with x " which let's you have a 2nd commanders as long as it's x
And "friends forever" which let's you have a 2nd commander as long as it has friends forever
Of course white is missing
I hope for a card giving, let's say, +2/+1, vigilance, double strike and "whenever this commander deals combat damage, you may draw a card"; maybe for 2WW. It would be nice
There are two white ones that we know of right now.
Noble Heritage 1W - Commanders creatures you own have "When this creature ETBs and at the beginning o f your upkeep, each player may put two +1/+1 counters on a creature they control. For each opponent who does, you can protection from that player until your next turn."
There's a second one I can't find right now because it was a very early leak on a cell phone camera that is - Commander creatures you own gain "Token creatures you control gain +2/+2."
@@Sothas pretty nice, the first one is a bit risky ... but nothing _so much_ impactful in the long run
thank you so much :D
@@marcoottina654 There's a third one I missed.
Veteran Soldier 1W - Commander creatures you own gain, "Whenever this creature attacks a player, if not opponent has more life than that player, for each opponent create a 1/1 white soldier token that is tapped and attacking that player."
The +2/+2 tokens background is called Inspiring Leader and it's 2W.
Give me a commander with choose a background and partner. DO IT WIZARDS! YOU COWARDS!
so far I'm not sold on background I'd prefer partner but there's more to be released and spoiled so I'll hold final judgment till then
So, because of the way Faceless One is worded, could it be a 'partner' to any commander?
Only cards with the Background subtype.
@@AzkuulaKtaktu Faceless One has the Background subtype.
@@AzkuulaKtaktu correction it can partner with either a background or a mono coloured creature with choose a background.
You got it
No, you can choose it as your Background for another card, or choose a Background to pair with it, but you can't choose it as the background for it's own effect.
I like this. This is cool.
There isn’t a white one?
Mitch, will you ask Wizards for a Wayfarer’s Bauble Background.
raised by gaints with jeska
Flavor win for sure, looks fun but we'll see
Vikki Criminal Past can make her big
what about instead of making a new name each time, wizards just makes partner for all new sets?
Faceless one should've had partner just so it and the piper could partner together to have the most useless command zone
So for functionality's sake, is this a 101st, card, or do you make your deck 98 and have two commanders, one with "choose a background" and another "background"? Does it go back to the command zone when destroyed? Can you recast it with commander tax, similar to a partner commander? does it have to match the color identity of your other commander, or can it be any color and the two identities of your commander and your background define the color identity of the rest of the deck?
it's a commander