Commander 2016

Guild Kits Praise

Just bought the Selesnya and Golgari guild kits, had no idea what was in them going in. Holy smokes, they are full of awesome stuff! Easily the best product you guys have made since Commander 2016. High five!

Even more high fives to be distributed.

Commander Commander 2016 Golgari (B/G) High Fives Selesnya (G/W) Two Color

Multicolor Symbol Guide

Hi Mark! I have no clue how the symbols work on multicolor cards, since they don't go in the typical WUBRG order. How and why are they ordered the way they are? (Example of my confusion: Commander 2016's commanders.)

Here’s the trick to remember three color mana order. First, learn the two color ordering: WU, UB, BR, RG, GW, WB, UR, BG, RW, GU For arcs, the color with two allies sits in the middle and connects to its two allies as the two color mana pair is written. For example, let’s take Bant (white, blue and green). White is the color with the two allies, so it goes in the middle. If you look at the two color pairs, you’ll see green comes before white (GW) and blue comes after (WU). That means Bant is written as GWU. For wedges, the color with two enemies sits in the middle and connects to its two enemies as the two color pairs is written. For example, let’s take Mardu (white, black and red). White is the color with two enemies so it goes in the middle. If you look at the two color pairs, you’ll see red comes before white (RW) and black comes after white (WB). That means Mardu is written RWB. I hope that helps.

Ally Azorius (W/U) Bant Bant (W/U/G) Black Blue Boros (R/W) Colors Commander Commander 2016 Golgari (B/G) Green Gruul (R/G) Izzet (U/R) Mana Mardu (R/W/B) Orzhov (W/B) Red See Red Selesnya (G/W) Simic (G/U) Three Color Two Color White

Partners Mechanics Evolution

What came first? C16 partners or Battlebond's Partner with?

Commander 2016.

Battlebond Commander Commander 2016 Partner

Nephilem as Commanders

Hey Mark, is there any chance we can the nephilem errated to be legendary so they can be used as a commander for edh? After commander 2016 I really started to fall in love with what the 4 color identity looked like. I know they're probably a bit harder to work with, but I'd love to see more 4 color support in the future. Thanks!

We avoid functional errata, so I doubt we’d make that change.

Color Identity Colors Commander Commander 2016 Errata Four Color Functional Errata Keyword Actions

4-Color Factions Difficulty

Would a world that focuses on 4-color groups like Commander 2016 put too much pressure on the limited/standard feel to be printed as a normal set?

4-color factions have all sorts of problems, the biggest being they are crazy hard to design.

Card Printing Colors Commander Commander 2016 Factions Factions Limited Standard

Gods Pre-Corruption Inquiry

Hi, will we ever see the versions of the Gods of Destruction, before they became corrupted by Bolas in supplemental sets like what we saw with minor characters in Commander 2016?

We won’t in Hour of Devastation, but if players are interested in that let us know. It would increase the chance of it happening.

Commander Commander 2016 Corrupted God Hour of Devastation

Story Production Limits

So you said before that creative couldn't make stories during the time between Aether Revolt and Amonkhet because they were too busy with two blocks per year, but we got stories for Commander 2016 and Eternal Masters which was still during the two blocks per year system. So what changed? Why were they able to do stories every week before, but not anymore?

They can do so much a year. Choosing to bunch a lot of them together doesn’t change that fact.

Aether Revolt Amonkhet Commander Commander 2016 Eternal Eternal Masters Revolt

Sidar Kondo Preknowledge

When you wrote your article Kings & Things in February 2015, did you know Sidar Kondo would be in commander 2016?

The timeline says I might have known. Let’s say I did.

Commander Commander 2016 Making Magic Sidar Kondo

Commander 2016 Design Insight

"Each [Commander 2016] deck was created by a different designer." - Was this something made public before and people just missed it? With that known, a lot of the oft-mentioned asymmetries in the set suddenly make much more sense (asymmetrical rare duals, only one deck had chromatic lantern, one deck had nephilim, etc.)

In was in the design articles about it.

Chromatic Lantern Commander Commander 2016 Nephilim Rares

Hal and Alena Timing

Was Hal and Alena ever considered as partner commanders for Commander 2016, I think it would have been a cool bit of flavor having them be partners :D

The timeline didn’t work out. Commander design was done before the short story with them in it was even written.

Commander Commander 2016 Flavor Partner Story / Lore

Partner Commanders Feedback

hey, i'm sure you've gotten a lot of these, but commander 2016 was fantastic and i would love to see more partner commanders in future commander sets :)

I’ll pass along the suggestion.

Commander Commander 2016 Partner

Commander 2016 Feedback

Who do I talk to if I have real issues with how Commander 2016 was released and distributed to game stores?

Email me through my column link and I’ll forward it to the right person.

Commander Commander 2016 Game Stores

Reprints and Color Pie

Would we be able to see any reprints of old cards that broke color pie in supplemental sets to keep them out of modern and standard? Or should they just be forgotten and not played by anyone?

We try to avoid them but an occasional one, like Chaos Warp in Commander 2016, slips through.

Card Printing Chaos Warp Color Pie Colors Commander Commander 2016 Modern Reprints Standard

Nephilim Errata Consideration

For Commander 2016, did you guys consider giving the Nephilims the legendary errata? If so, why did you not follow through on it?

We try to avoid functional errata.

Commander Commander 2016 Errata Functional Errata

Nephilim Selection Reason

Can you explain why only one of the Nephlim was included in the Commander 2016 product? I'm sure there was a reason why, i'm just courious as to what it is.

We included cards that worked well in the deck they appeared in. Only one Nephilim fit that description.

Commander Commander 2016 Nephilim

Commander 2016 Basic Lands

Mark! I just realized the basic lands in Commander 2016 are new lands and not reprints. Not only that but we finally have basics by kev walker. Can you high five whoever made this decision for me?

Will do.

Basics Card Printing Commander Commander 2016 High Fives Lands Reprints

Commander 2016 Feedback

In the midst of all these negative comments about C16, I'd like to say that there are people who do like the set. The four color legends we have seen so far are awesome, most of the partners are way better than I expected, the other cards seem cool so far, great reprints, and FOIL generals is the best decision ever made. Good job, team!

The vast majority of the comments I’ve gotten about Commander 2016 have been overwhelmingly positive. My tendency to respond to outliers often warps people’s perceptions of how players feel.

Card Printing Colors Commander Commander 2016 Foils Four Color Legendary Creatures Reprints

Disappointment in Commander 2016

tell the designer of commander 2016 that i'm dissapointed u.u no, like seriously, i wanted more creatures that had the 4 colors, not that partner thing... if you wanted two color creatures you could had put some other two color activation ability :/

My articles this week talked all about the many things the design team tried that didn’t work on their way to finding partner. It included off color activations.

Colors Commander Commander 2016 Creatures Partner Two Color

Consulting Color Pie Wisdom

How much was your color pie wisdom consulted during the design of Commander 2016?

I believe the Council of Colors looked it over.

Color Pie Colors Commander Commander 2016 Council of colors

Commander Basic Lands

I'm really happy that you guys commissioned new basics for the commander decks, and from some of the game's veteran artists whose work we don't get the chance to see as often. Bravo!

The response to the Commander 2016 basic lands has been wonderful.

Basics Commander Commander 2016 Lands