Magic: The Gathering's Commander format is popular as ever, with many preconstructed Commander decks available for use. While these decks contain many great cards for the format, the Streets of New Capenna set itself contains its fair share of cards that can offer substantial power to a Commander deck. So we're going to examine the cards of Streets of New Capenna, and see which are the best suited for the Commander format!
Before we begin, we should clarify that we are specifically examining cards for the 99 of a deck, rather than new options for a deck's commander.
Updated June 6, 2023 by Johnny Garcia: A format like Commander is always going to change. With every new set, more options for different strategies become available. This often leads to cards from older sets suddenly being relevant for these new decks. Streets Of New Capenna is no exception to this rule. The set was viewed on the weaker side initially but as time progressed many powerful cards from Streets Of New Capenna have risen in popularity to become strong contenders in the Commander format. While Streets Of New Capenna had plenty of useful commanders, the cards it had that can go in the 99 card main deck are just as strong if not stronger.
10 Jetmir, Nexus Of Revels
Jetmir, Nexus Of Revels can be a strong commander on its own, but it's also fantastic in the 99. If you are playing a deck that creates a plethora of creatures, Jetmir is a must-include if you can play Naya (red/green/white) colors.
It continuously gives your creatures abilities and stat boosts, with the one that gives trample the most relevant as it makes many blockers irrelevant. Jetmir, Nexus Of Revels snowballs the game in your favor, so you can win through combat - the main win condition of creature decks.
9 Unlicensed Hearse
One of the best pieces of graveyard hate, Unlicensed Hearse continuously grows in its stats while it exiles cards out of graveyards. It has a very easy crew cost to turn it into a creature allowing it to become both a powerful blocker and attacker.
While it shines more often in traditional formats, its usefulness in Commander is not to be understated. Unlicensed Hearse dismantles any deck that relies on its graveyard and shuts down any recursion, making it a huge problem for many decks that need their graveyard to function.
8 Arcane Bombardment
Arcane Bombardment belongs in any red deck that wants to cast a ton of spells. It makes it so you'll be casting even more spells in a deck that already wants to be casting as many as possible. Its higher mana cost can be easily achieved as Commander has plenty of ways to easily ramp.
Arcane Bombardment's effect is random for what it copies, but you don't actually have to pay the mana cost of the spells being copied so it's not uncommon to cast a ton of spells every turn. It triggers off the first spell you cast each turn, not just you're own.
7 Rabble Rousing
Rabble Rousing is an amazing card when it comes to token and creature decks. The hideaway cost is a nice addition, but even if it didn't have it the card would still be amazing. It essentially doubles the number of attackers you have by creating that many tokens.
If you combine it with other cards that let you make more tokens when you generate them Rabble Rousing gets out of hand incredibly quickly. It helps you to recover from board wipes as well as you have a constant stream of new token creatures whenever you attack.
6 Ledger Shredder
In every game of Commander, many players going to be casting multiple spells each turn. This is what makes Ledger Shredder so good. It will constantly grow in stats while allowing you to dig through your deck and get rid of dead cards in your hand or send cards you want in the graveyard there.
Ledger Shredder becomes an increasing threat with a statline that is already solid. It can grow to ridiculous stats if your opponents are constantly casting spells. It applies to each player each turn, so if multiple players cast multiple spells on different turns you will be drawing a ton of cards.
5 An Offer You Can't Refuse
An instant for the cost of one blue mana, An Offer You Can't Refuse allows its controller to counter target a noncreature spell, providing that spell's caster with two Treasure tokens. This is easily comparable to Swan Song, another one-mana counterspell that sees significant play in Commander.
While Swan Song can only counter enchantments, instants, or sorceries, giving the countered spell's caster the gift of a 2/2 flying bird token, An Offer You Can't Refuse is much more flexible in what it can feasibly counter. Though two Treasure tokens is probably more dangerous in the hands of an opponent than a Bird token, two Treasures are a price worth paying to stave off a potentially game-winning Cyclonic Rift for the cost of a single mana.
4 Professional Face-Breaker
It's no secret that mana ramp and card advantage are each incredibly important elements of Commander. Professional Face-Breaker is an impressive new red card that provides both of these benefits within a singular creature.
A 2/3 with menace for three mana, whenever one or more creatures under its owner's control deal damage to a player, its controller creates a Treasure token. Between its access to menace, the fact this ability can be triggered off of any creature under its owner's control, and the fact that Commander's multiplayer nature increases the chance of an opponent not having a blocker, chances are this will be reliably easy to trigger.
While Treasures are a great resource that can give additional mana when needed, Professional Face-Breaker provides them with an alternative use: impulsive draw. As this card allows any Treasures to be sacrificed at any time in order to produce an impulsive draw effect, when paired with enough Treasures, it can allow for extremely explosive plays.
3 Halo Fountain
Halo Fountain is a unique and potent White artifact for three mana that can be a great flexible benefit for creature-based decks with access to White mana. For the cost of one White mana, Halo fountain may be tapped to untap a tapped creature under its owner's control to create a 1/1 citizen token.
While token generation is nice, its second ability allows two mana to be spent and two tapped creatures to be untapped to allow its controller to draw a card; a rarity for white decks.
While its last ability is the most difficult to utilize, if five white mana is spent and fifteen tapped creatures are untapped, Halo Fountain can serve as an alternate win condition, immediately allowing its controller to win the game. Due to the sheer flexibility of this card, it is an option that many White token decks may want to consider.
2 Ob Nixilis, the Adversary
An impressive three-mana Rakdos Planeswalker, Ob Nixilis, the Adversary is shaping up as a card that may have a sizable impact on several formats.
This is largely in part due to its access to Casualty X, allowing a nonlegendary copy of this Planeswalker to enter the battlefield alongside the card if a creature is sacrificed when Ob Nixilis is cast. What's important to note, is that while Ob Nixilis normally enters the battlefield with a mere three loyalty, the copy enters the battlefield with a number of loyalty counters equal to the sacrificed creature's power.
In the Commander format, a deck could easily set up a creature with sizeable power, sacrificing it as Ob Nixilis is cast to access a massive pool of loyalty. While two Planeswalkers for the cost of one is nice, this casualty ability means that in Commander, the copy may often be able to immediately access its ultimate -7 ability: allowing its controller to draw seven cards at the cost of seven life.
1 Bootleggers' Stash
Though simplistic, there are countless decks within the Commander format that would benefit significantly from the inclusion of Bootleggers' Stash. A green artifact for six mana, rather than having one's lands produce mana the traditional way, Bootleggers' Stash allows its controller's lands to be tapped in order to produce Treasure tokens.
This is an absurdly powerful benefit that provides value in a litany of ways. First and foremost, as treasures produce mana of any color, this provides a deck with great mana fixing. More importantly, it means that players are able to carry over their unspent mana from a given turn rotation to the next.
In addition, it can be paired in incredible fashion with Seedborn Muse, as this allows you to quickly amass an enormous number of treasure tokens. As such, this is a stellar inclusion in any deck looking to synergize with artifacts.