Set Prospective
Crimson Vow Commander
This article is one of our set prospectives, a series in which we survey the Cube community about the cards they intend to play in their cubes from a particular set. Our survey is conducted between the set’s full-spoiler and official release and is meant to measure and document Cube designers’ first impressions of new cards.
Crimson Vow Commander is the companion to Magic’s first wedding-themed set, Innistrad: Crimson Vow. We surveyed over 221 cubes from 194 unique designers about their thoughts on VOW, many of whom also tested Commander cards. See where these respondents fall on the Cube Map.
Compared to its Standard-legal counterpart, VOC is much less tested, but those who did test cards were more certain about their ratings. Respondents are testing a median of 1 card from this set, but they give a median of 1 card a rating better than 2.5 (strong likelihood to succeed). In other words, there is a single highly-rated card that excites the community, much like Laelia, the Blade Reforged in Commander 2021. The maximum number of VOC cards tested by any respondent is 7.
| Card | Testers▼ | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Occult Epiphany | 56.7% | 2.2 |
| Shadowgrange Archfiend | 11.7% | 2.2 |
| Predators' Hour | 10.0% | 2.2 |
| Hollowhenge Overlord | 10.0% | 2.3 |
| Disorder in the Court | 10.0% | 2.4 |
| Storm of Souls | 8.3% | 1.9 |
| Breathkeeper Seraph | 8.3% | 1.8 |
| Ethereal Investigator | 8.3% | 2.2 |
| Spectral Arcanist | 6.7% | 1.8 |
| Haunted Library | 6.7% | 1.9 |
Occult Epiphany is the clear hit from VOC among our survey respondents, with an average rating of 2.2 and an impressive 32 respondents testing it. The appeal of Epiphany is due to its immense flexibility; it can function as a board-generating instant-speed mana sink akin to Secure the Wastes (even if one’s hand is empty), or it can dig through a deck to find specific threats or answers, or (most importantly) any combination between those extremes.
“I think the best card for cube is actually from the commander decks: Occult Epiphany. It has an unusual looting effect with lots of interesting tension over which cards to discard to get the most value.”
Epiphany is an order of magnitude more highly tested than the next-best performers on the VOC survey, including Shadowgrange Archfiend (6 testers) and Disorder in the Court (5 testers), suggesting that Epiphany’s appeal transcends mere archetype support and instead speaks to a broader segment of the Cube design community.
Crimson Vow Commander is a rarity among Commander releases in the Cube community, in that a single card has garnered a broad following at a variety of power levels. This comes in addition to the usual smattering of more niche cards which we have come to expect from every Commander release. If you haven’t already, give this set a glance and you might be surprised at the epiphanies you find within!
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