Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate has already made a splash for deck builders all over. But today, I want to shine a light on one of Streets of New Capenna’s most popular bad boys. Having only been out for two months, the face of the Riveteer Rampage, Henzie “Toolbox” Torre, is so frequently built, he’s threatening to crack the top five Jund Commanders of all time on EDHREC.com!
Looking at average decklists, it’s pretty clear folks love Blitzing out big beaters at a discount, and luckily for us Battle for Baldur’s Gate is jam packed with big beaters that are begging to be Blitzed. Let’s take a look at my top Jund additions to ol’ “Toolbox” from the latest Commander Legends.
Ancient Copper Dragon
Who doesn’t love a big Dragon? An average die roll is about 10 or 11. You hit someone with this after paying 5 mana with Henzie out for the first time, you’re more than likely to make your money back… with interest. This beefy beater is great when Blitzed or when played regular. Definitely an A+ inclusion.
Despite its inclusion in a bunch of lists online, Ancient Brass Dragon feels suboptimal for this deck. You’ve got a deck where the average CMC for creatures is 6 or 7, you’ll probably only ever get one creature back per swing. That’s not bad, for sure, but it isn’t what you imagine when rolling the D20 for this black majestic beast.
Balor
Balor is the card of my dreams and nightmares. As an avid Aristocrats player, I love when a card says “when… dies” on it. But as a Henzie player, I’ve fallen in love with “Whenever… attacks or dies.” Hubba hubba! You Blitz out Balor for four – four! You’re getting all this for four mana! – and you get to dome the greediest player for cards in hand, make someone discard randomly to mess up their plans, and get rid of artifacts you need gone… TWICE! And you get a card at the end of it all? Balor’s value will go up based on Henzie decks alone and then see a premium once they’re all snatched up. Henzie players, pick yours up now!
Bhaal, Lord of Murder
Bhaal is interesting because you don’t want to Blitz Bhaal, no matter how fun it is to say. With Henzie, a healthy amount of non-token creatures you control die. Pair that with Bhaal and you have a way to keep your opponents from swinging their big stuff your way. When it comes down to one vs. one, you’ll have to do a bit of a dance with him out, but hey, he got you to the end, you can take it from here.
Durnan of the Yawning Portal
Durnan is half of the Commander from the Exit From Exile precon. There’s so much value in that deck, I would implore you to pick one up immediately, the list looks amazing. Durnan will have a home in that deck, but any stray copies are going to skyrocket. Put Durnan nto the Henzie 99 and do your thing. You can choose to keep him around, but by Blitzing Durnan, you’ll at most pay three (or at least pay one) and you get a creature you can cast from exile for the rest of the game that costs you one less for each opponent. Additionally, you get to draw a card when he dies. And you get to the Blitz the exiled creature! WHAT?!
Oh, yeah. Just like with Chainer, Nightmare Adept. Henzie “Toolbox” Torre says, “Each creature spell you cast with mana value 4 or greater has Blitz.” No mention of it needing to be from your hand! As long as the exiled creature costs four or more, you’ve got a Blitzer. Also, Chainer, Nightmare Adept is hella cheap these days, you should pick your copies up.
Elturel Survivors
This is a finisher, folks. Fast mana is all over the place, but with Green being the best colour in Commander (check out MTGGoldfish’s Commander podcast about it), this is bound to punish at least one or two players for being ahead. What’s more is that if the Survivors are Blitzed and attack, Myriad will create creature token copies for each other opponent they are attacking, which means that they too will have Haste. More importantly, “When this creature dies, draw a card.” You’ll need a way to kill or sacrifice the tokens before the end of combat to benefit, but there is no shortage of ways to do that in Jund.
Honorable Mentions:
Elder Brain
No matter when you slam Elder Brain down, as long as you’re swinging at an opponent, you won’t be disappointed. Will you sometimes snag a hand full of lands? Sure, but Henzie needs those. Will you sometimes snag a bunch of interaction pieces? Fair enough, gotta protect your board and hit the rest of the table with stuff. Will you sometimes snag a bunch of creatures with mana value four or greater that may or may not be your opponents’ wincon? Bingo. Now you get it. There’s no disappointment as long as you’re attacking someone with a big grip. You can Blitz the Elder Brain early if you’re into it, but I think I’ll be hard casting this if I can. The versatility is fantastic once the “Toolbox” makes friends.
Firbolg Flutist
I think this card rips. You get to snag any creature from any opponent and give that creature Myriad. You get two ETB triggers when it attacks if you’re in a pod of four. Excellent. What I think is impressive is in Henzie decks, in the late game you’ll be dropping creatures with a three or four mana discount, which means that the Flutist for two mana can take away a Sun Titan and get three triggers (one attack, two ETBs), bringing back your fetch lands or a Sakura-Tribe Elder.
For two mana, the Flutist can take away an opponent’s Ancient Copper Dragon or Phyrexian Delver or Wurmcoil Engine or…
And those are my big beefy picks for Henzie upgrades in a post-Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate release world!
Thanks for reading and if there are any decks you’d like me to cover, I’d be more than happy to give you my thoughts on the subject!
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