Set Prospective
New Capenna Commander
This article is part of our community-sourced Set Prospective series. We survey Cube designers before the set’s official release to document their first impressions of new cards.
The street-wise companion to Magic’s mobster expansion, New Capenna Commander brings a shift in Commander-focused design ethos, a heap of cards that have the Cube community excited, and an all-time record high number of respondents for our Commander set surveys.
Results
The 65 curators who submitted 69 responses to our survey beat the next-highest Commander deck survey engagement by a factor of 1.4, even rivaling the audience for some of our early main set surveys. Due in part to the small size of this release, Cube curators are testing a median of only 3 cards, but they rate a median of two of those 3 above 7.75; respondents are confidently endorsing these cards for their Cubes. One designer is even testing 20 cards from this set.
| Card | Testers▼ | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Lethal Scheme | 54.3% | 7.1 |
| Currency Converter | 38.6% | 6.4 |
| Caldaia Guardian | 24.3% | 5.5 |
| Grand Crescendo | 22.9% | 6.4 |
| In Too Deep | 20.0% | 4.4 |
| Skyway Robber | 14.3% | 6.6 |
| Cryptic Pursuit | 14.3% | 5.0 |
| Dogged Detective | 11.4% | 4.4 |
| Sinister Concierge | 11.4% | 4.8 |
| Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer | 11.4% | 6.3 |
| Killer Service | 8.6% | 7.6 |
| Protection Racket | 8.6% | 6.4 |
| First Responder | 7.1% | 6.8 |
| Weathered Sentinels | 7.1% | 3.7 |
| Bennie Bracks, Zoologist | 7.1% | 5.7 |
Single Card Discussion
The Hardboiled Hits
Lethal Scheme is the most-anticipated card from this product. Its cost-reduction mechanic and its ability to break board stalls wide open suggest that it will have positive play patterns, and its flexibility competes with some of Black’s strongest removal options.
Currency Converter is Saga-fetchable, bolsters popular graveyard-adjacent synergies, and is a value engine that can come online early.
Caldaia Guardian is beef, plain and simple: grass-fed and organic. A lot of stats and synergistic opportunities for a low asking price is a tough recipe to beat.
In Too Deep is an uncounterable, Blue Declaration in Stone that is to battlefield interaction as Dovin's Veto is to stack interaction. It is also incredibly flavorful, from the chalk-outline split second “glimpse into to the future” art to the way that the Clue enacts the narrative of the card.
Finally, Grand Crescendo comes with a Heroic Intervention 2-mana buy-out clause and a ceiling similar to Secure the Wastes.
The sheer diversity of these cards is remarkable. Very few Commander products bring back high densities of beloved mechanics and synergies at rates competitive in 1-vs-1 Magic, but Mark Rosewater’s blog suggests that this may signal a broader shift in Commander design ethos.
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