If you asked me last week, I would’ve said my favourite colours in Magic: The Gathering were black and blue. I love digging in graveyards, and casting spells. But as part of launch of MTG‘s Edge of Eternities set, I’ve been playing with the new Inspirit, Flagship Vessel / Kilo, Apogee Mind red-blue-white Commander Deck, and I’ve been tempted to change my stripes.
Heading into MTG Edge of Eternities, there was a certain reluctance in my mind. I’m not much into science fiction, and I was curious about how the space-faring antics of this set would mix with the typical high fantasy of Magic. But I’ve enjoyed rounds with Inspirit and its new Station mechanic so much, any concerns have been blasted away by spaceship lasers.
What is Inspirit, Flagship Vessel like as a Commander?
Inspirit, Flagship Vessel makes for a fantastic MTG Commander. As a Legendary Artifact – Spacecraft, it makes use of new rules that Legendary Vehicles can be Commanders, with a transformative Station mechanic allowing it to make a cratering impact on the battlefield. If you Station the card with one charge counter (tap a creature you control, put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft), its first ability activates.
This allows you to put your choice of a +1/+1 counter or two charge counters on up to one other target artifact, at the beginning of combat on your turn. If you can put 8+ charge counters on Inspirit, it gains 5/5 and Flying. Other artifacts you control also have hexproof and indestructible, which is a very fun ability when it comes time to combat.
If you want to buff this Commander Deck, other cards that make artifacts hexproof and/or indestructible could certainly be very fun, as barring a board wipe, this would prevent most damage, and help to keep your Commander alive, and annoying.
That’s another part that makes Inspirit so fun. It’s not actually a creature until it has eight or more charge counters, so it’s pretty hard for opponents to target it until then. That won’t stop them from trying of course, but at least you get to pull out your once-allowed ‘well, actually’ in your turn.
It’s worth noting you can change up the deck with Kilo, Apogee Mind as the secondary Commander. This Artifact Creature has Haste, which is always handy, and it also lets you proliferate whenever it becomes tapped. Personally, I preferred Inspirit, as charging feels very fun, particularly when your Spacecraft is at full blast.
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I enjoy that, as with Planeswalkers, you can sit back and Station your card while working away at other strategies in the background. That includes placing as many artifacts as possible on the table, then ensuring their safety when they become hexproof and indestructible. In this particular MTG Edge of Eternities Commander Deck, you’ll find an array of useful artifacts to deploy, as well as artifact creatures which serve dual purposes.
MTG: Edge of Eternities – How Counter Intelligence functions
Surge Conductor is a handy inclusion, with this artifact creature allowing you to proliferate whenever another nontoken artifact you control enters. The goal here is to play Surge Conductor as soon as possible, and also add counters to any cards as soon as possible, to reap the benefits of its proliferate ability.
If you can get Tekuthal, Inquiry Domnius on the battlefield, you can also use that card’s ability to proliferate twice any time another nontoken artifact you control enters. As you can likely tell, what results is a domino effect of counters that lets you Station faster, and boosts the power of each of your creatures.
Coretapper also speeds up charge counter production, with a sacrifice ability that lets you put two charge counters on a target artifact. Alibou, Ancient Witness is also a fantastic inclusion here, with this giving all your artifact creatures Haste for a speedy advantage. This particular card also allows for passive damage, as whenever one or more artifact creatures you control attack, it deals X damage to any target, and you also scry X (where X is the number of tapped artifacts you control) so you can additionally get to your cooler cards faster.
That includes one of my personal favourite cards in the deck, Chrome Host Seedshark. This is just an ordinary creature (although it is a Phyrexian Shark, which rocks) but it has Flying, and its secondary ability is very useful. Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you can incubate X, where X is that spell’s mana value. What incubate allows you to do is generate a Phyrexian Incubator token with a number of +1/+1 counters on it. It remains an artifact creature until the opportune time, when the Incubator bursts open, and births a Phyrexian creature.
In my first round playing this MTG Edge of Eternities Commander Deck, I managed to generate three Incubator tokens – a +4/+4, a +2/+2 and a +3/+3. Sadly my egg babies were destroyed before they could have an impact on the battlefield, but them being there at all, threatening in their presence, made me feel ultra-powerful and sneaky.
MTG Edge of Eternities: Counter Intelligence CD – Verdict
Playing with MTG Edge of Eternities‘ new Counter Intelligence Commander Deck, I was most surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Again, space isn’t my bag. I’m just not excited by the idea of spaceships and planets generally, and given the choice, I will always pick fantasy on top. But Station is such a fun new addition to MTG. It feels high strategy, with the option to decide when to tap your creatures for charge, and when to plow ahead.
The proliferate synergy in this deck is also great, and feels very well-designed. There is a clear order to the construction of this deck, and while that’s occasionally hindered by card draw, you can immediately see the logic in your hand, and understand which cards should be played first, to take advantage of any possible counter placement and proliferate mechanics.
I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and understood, so clearly, the purpose backing a deck.
Counter Intelligence feels very cohesive, as a whole – from artwork to themes and mechanics. As with the rest of MTG Edge of Eternities, this Commander Deck features wonderful, lush sci-fi art complete with dramatic scenes of planetary destruction, and all sorts of cool alien artifact creatures. From its crab-walking monolith to its alien shark and beyond, this deck has it all. And its mechanics just work so well.
I can see Inspirit, Flagship Vessel becoming a key part of my Commander Deck rotation. Given recent gameplay sessions, I may also have to wrest it back from my friends, who all want a turn.
After a reluctance to indulge in MTG Edge of Eternities, and declaring my fealty to the realm of magic, I find myself willing to eat my words. This Commander Deck brims with cool synergy, and I’m keen to keep forging ahead, with its many weird creatures in tow.
An MTG Edge of Eternities Commander Deck, booster packs, collector booster packs, and a bundle were provided to ScreenHub for the purposes of this review and further coverage.
