MTG Set Review: Commander Legends

The end of 2025 is near fellow Otaku & Metalheads.

2025 has not be very kind for us here in the United States, or for anywhere else if I’m being honest. The sheer amount of political corruption here in America is so immense, it makes some of the worst leaders in our country’s history look like model boy scouts. With things coming out seemingly every single day that sends a chill down your spine, it makes living in the USA looks like a living nightmare. None the less, the few shreds of light that still float around are enough to keep one going, and today’s review marks one final look back at the media landscape of 2020. One final look at a plague ridden year that in hindsight, might somehow seem less soul-crushing that what we’ve gone through here in 2025. So, if you’ve got the hankering for some EDH/Commander, then sit down & enjoy my review of the 2020 closer, Commander Legends. Let’s begin!

Story & Setting
Commander Legends doesn’t really have a story to it, save for some of the characters introduced that would make a re-appearance in later sets. Not only that, but there are fundamentally new & older plains introduced and re-introduced, but nothing is ever explored in detail. Due to the goals of the set, there isn’t really a need for a set-wide story & characters.....but I will talk about this a little later.

Art
For the most part, the artwork hasn’t changed in Commander Legends. All of the older cards they brought in have the exact same art as they did before, save for some spruced up alternate versions. The NEW art, however, is damn good! There are plenty of new cards in both the base set, and the commander pre-builts, that all have brand new artwork, and it all looks wonderful. Not much else to say in this regard.

Mechanics
Also for the most part, the mechanics of Commander Legends is made up of things we’ve seen before. The Monarch makes a comeback, as does Cascade to an extent, Pirate Tribal/Typal/Kindred oddly enough, along with a smattering of a few others. Two new ones are introduced, and they certainly make things feel fresher. The first up is Encore, and that one’s pretty simple. You simply pay the mana cost & exile the creature card from your graveyard, and then you make a copy of it for each opponent you have. They all have haste, and then you sacrifice them at the next end step. This gives anybody an advantage if they’re lacking in the creature department, and has some nice aristocrat interactions.

Perhaps the biggest aspect of the set was the Partner mechanic. Originally first appeared in 2014 with specific partners in Battleborn, then in 2016 with the Commander pre-builts that were more varied, and then in 2020 with the Ikoria pre-builts that returned to the more limited nature of 2014. Commander Legends is far more free-roaming with it’s partners, as you can mix & match with anybody with Partner. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that every combination works, but this does mean that the amount of combinations is incredibly varied. My only complaint is that there weren’t any Partner commanders in multicolor (Would have made for some interesting 3-color partner decks), but there’s still a lot of variety with what we were given.

Negative Aspects
Honestly, Commander Legends’s only big fault is the heavy return of cards from prior sets that have their original art. To play devil’s advocate, this was a set that was designed with the Commander format in mind, and thus many older cards were needed to flesh things out & to supplement the newer ones. Even so, it’s amazing that the ration of old to new seems so out of balance to me, but again, the old was meant to help out the new, so I can’t truly complain that much.

Overall Impression & Rating
If Zendikar Rising was my 1st favorite set of 2020, then Commander Legends isn’t far behind. While the fair amount of older cards doesn’t make this set feel completely new, the stuff that is new certainly makes for something somewhat unique. Even if there isn’t a story or familiar characters (For the most part), what we were given was pretty good. It still manages to entertain players whenever the odd pack is found & opened, and even if you never collect the set, buy a few odd cards & enjoy the moment.

Commander Legends gets an 8.5 to 9 out of 10.

And that was my review for Commander Legends. A worthy release that helped out many Commander players, and a set that definitely deserved to close out 2020. Still spoken of in high regard almost 5 years later, it’s a testament to the design quality that’s had it stay in the minds of so many MTG players. And with that everyone, my look back at some of the media that got me through 2020 is completely, so now we turn our attention to last year. So, join me around the middle of the month, as we’ll take a look at a musical honorable mention that’s quite mysterious. See you then!