Set Prospective
Phyrexia: All Will Be One 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.
As with every contemporary set, Phyrexia: All Will Be One comes partnered with its own set of Commander decks. These decks add 28 new cards to fill out themes for Commander and offer even more options to cube designers as well.
Supplementary sets receive much less attention from the Cube design community, but these decks still offer an opportunity to Cube designers. In a shift towards what Mark Rosewater calls “designing for an eternal world” (and a singleton world), Wizards uses supplemental products to fill out themes enough to support Commander decks, but this also provides new options for Cube. For designers thinking ONE’s mechanics are too insular, ONC may be a reason to take another look.
We received 82 responses to the ONE Commander Cube survey, a record number for a Commander release. On average, people are only trying two cards from ONC with the median response including only one card. Cards received an average rating of 2, slightly above the middle.
| Card | Testers▼ | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Glimmer Lens | 52.4% | 2.1 |
| Staff of the Storyteller | 36.6% | 1.8 |
| Otharri, Suns' Glory | 23.2% | 2.3 |
| Synthesis Pod | 11.0% | 2.2 |
| Lux Artillery | 7.3% | 1.9 |
| Hexplate Wallbreaker | 7.3% | 1.9 |
| Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant | 7.3% | 1.9 |
| Contaminant Grafter | 6.1% | 2.1 |
| Goldwardens' Gambit | 4.9% | 1.7 |
| Kemba's Banner | 4.9% | 2.0 |
| Mirage Mockery | 4.9% | 1.8 |
| Clever Concealment | 4.9% | 2.0 |
“Is Otharri the best Boros card?”
The standout color in ONC for our Cube respondents is White. Glimmer Lens and Staff of the Storyteller are two new card advantage engines that still maintain the color pie, a key focus of Commander design that also benefits Cube. The Lens offers a reasonable floor for environments with aggressive strategies, and a valuable addition to the growing list of cheap living weapons for archetype support. The Staff begins as a 2-mana 1/1 flyer, but can generate card advantage even without a dedicated token archetype.
Moving slightly beyond 
, Otharri, Suns' Glory offers Commander players a second chance at a red-white experience commander. For our Cube respondents (only a handful of which responded for a Commander Cube), most are likely interested Otharri's snowballing, evasive, recursive value. If you’re looking for a 5 mana creature that smashes The Vindicate Test, look no further!
As with all preconstructed decks, ONC includes plenty of reprints, many of which are popular cards for Cubes. Now may be a great time to pick up a few singles at a great price.
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