A Look at Eminence
Inspired by Gavin Verhey’s March of the Machine commander teasers, specifically hint #13: “There is a new card with Eminence,” I wanted to explore the depths of the design space of this controversial mechanic. For those unfamiliar, it was introduced wit the Commander 2017 (C17) preconstructed decks which were a set of 4 that each focused on a different creature type: Cats, Vampires, Wizards, and Dragons. Eminence abilities are present on the headliners of each deck, and they are abilities that function while they are in the command zone. Beyond that, there is no specific mechanical identity linking the four abilities. The fact that the C17 commanders cared about creature types is not inherent to Eminence, and I don’t imagine it would restrict Wizards of the Coast designers.
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic from Commander 2013 is a precursor to Eminence, so I will include his ability in our discussion. With these five examples, we see there are a variety of triggers including at the beginning of combat, whenever you cast a subtype of spell, whenever a subtype of creature enters the battlefield, and at the beginning of your upkeep. The effects are equally varied, we see: a combat benefit, creature token generation, a static cost reduction, and passive life gain.
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist was my first commander deck, so I know firsthand the absurd value she can generate without even touching the battlefield. But unlike Edgar Markov, Inalla’s ability costs mana to activate, at least. Edgar Markov is the most egregious offender when people discuss Eminence, but I’ve never heard anyone argue that Arahbo or Oloro are busted (but I wasn’t playing in 2013 when Oloro was popular).
I’m interested in exploring some designs for well-balanced Eminence abilities. Some key aspects will be (in my opinion): making the ability highly situational (either in its trigger or its effect), adding a mana cost, and restricting how many times it can trigger per turn. I intended to get this out before the March of the Machine commander deck spoilers began, but alas, I didn’t expect to see them so soon. Regardless, I wanted to showcase how Eminence can be tamer, but it’s possible I’ve fallen into the same trap as WotC designers did. I designed 10 cards, one in each 3-color identity, and I’ll share some of the thought process behind each.
Esper
Let’s start off with a trigger that cares about creature types, but is a smaller payoff than creating a token. Sphinges tend to cost 4-7 mana, compared to vampires which is a creature type with a much lower curve. The existence of the Changeling mechanic throws the ability to use typical mana distributions of creature types out the window, unfortunately.
The second ability is not the main focus in these designs, but I will touch on them regardless. In this case I wanted an effect that gave a payoff for putting cards into your graveyard.
Jund
Another type-specific benefit, here we also have a mana cost on top of the ability. Another combat trigger, this is a “lure” effect, forcing your opponent to block your creatures. Viashino is an underused tribe, but at least they got some love in Streets of New Capenna (SNC/NCC).
I wanted to highlight that colored mana specifically can make Eminence abilities quite costly to activate. I also wanted to give this a “this ability triggers only twice each turn” restriction, which is something I’ve been toying with in other designs. In this case it became excessively wordy, so I opted for “up to two target” instead.
Naya
No mana cost, no tribal restriction, but here we see a more narrow trigger: two or more creature tokens must be created from the same effect at once. Another restriction on this ability is that the effect keys off of how many times you’ve cast your commander this game. This kind of payoff incentivizes actually casting your commander, yet still provides a benefit even if they’re removed.
I think this combination of restrictions makes for an elegant design, as you still get the payoff even when your commander becomes prohibitively expensive to cast. At that point in the game you can still reap the benefits for doing the thing your deck wants without the 8+ mana tax of re-casting your commander.
Bant
The trigger here is narrow: you must be attacked with 3+ creatures. The effect allows you to block one of them, a powerful effect for a defensive deck. But here we have a case where your opponents’ actions dictate whether the effect triggers or not.
In practice, this effect may be too strong, but it could also do nothing throughout the entire game. It will definitely affect how your opponents attack and the flow of the game, and maybe that’s enough.
Grixis
This ability triggers at the beginning of your upkeep, but costs mana to activate and cares about a specific card type. Discard 1 to draw 2 is a pretty good deal, that’s some decent card velocity, but there are a finite number of demon cards in your deck.
As for the second ability, Sedraxis, the Traitor King already can give all creature cards Unearth for 2B, and Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa can give all artifact cards Unearth for 1BR. 1UBR to only demon cards seems reasonable, despite being strictly worse than Sedraxis’s ability.
Jeskai
Another ability that can key off your opponents’ actions, but can only activate twice per turn. This also costs colored mana for a marginal effect. The benefit really comes into play in combination with the second triggered ability, which is only active while the commander is on the battlefield.
Overall the combination of abilities costs a hefty chunk of colored mana just to draw an extra card.
Temur
Our first example of a passive mana reduction, akin to The Ur-Dragon. In this case, your expensive spells cost slightly less (so, very similar to The Ur-Dragon).
When I came up with the second ability, I realized it was pretty similar to Riku of Two Reflections.
Sultai
Our second passive cost reduction effect, this has the slightly awkward wording of “cost cost.” I believe that is correct, though, it just reads weird. This card synergizes with X-cost spells, a mainstay of Hydra designs.
Once I realized I wanted to scale this up with mana spent, I saw the similarities to Gyrus, Waker of Corpses. So the card name is a reference to Gyrus and Villainous Wealth, a popular X-cost spell.
Mardu
Triggers each of your upkeeps, but isn’t necessarily 100% upside. It gives you an extra option each turn, but only if you’ve set it up the turn before.
The second ability gives you a benefit for actually sacrificing something. The flavor of the card is a reference to Therosian minotaurs and the followers of Mogis.
Abzan
The trigger is pretty universal, but it’s restricted to twice per turn and provides a marginal upside. This felt very underwhelming at only 1 life (similar to the Jeskai example), but free life gain is pretty good.
In contrast to the Jeskai card, the second ability here is an outlet for the extra life gain.
Now let’s look at Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir, the new Eminence card from March of the Machine commander:
Disappointingly, Wizards of the Coast has gone with a design that sticks to the “creature-type-matters” implementation of the first batch. As I’ve advocated, this isn’t inherent to the Eminence mechanic. Nevertheless, it does provide players a clear deckbuilding incentive, and restricting the ability to one creature type is a way of limiting its power.
Let’s look at the trigger: “Whenever you attack with one or more Knights.” This is limited to once per combat step, and will only trigger once regardless of how many knights attack and how many different players you attack. This is pretty safe, especially in colors not typically associated with extra combat steps (i.e. not Red).
Now for the effect itself, I’d consider it “marginally strong,” as it’s a simple loot effect. This is another point in favor of “not busted.” I think the designers could’ve pushed this effect a bit, but they erred on the side of caution. Repeatable Brainstorm would probably be too strong, but I would’ve liked to see surveil or scry tacked on here. Even “draw two, discard two” would provide better filtering at roughly the same power level. Additional draw synergizes with the relatively new Queza, Augur of Agonies who cares about drawing cards.
The final ability is a pretty good reanimation effect that is tied to combat damage, which is not guaranteed. Natural evasion and First Strike are good ways to get that damage though, however.
Overall a safe take on Eminence that won’t ruffle any feathers, yet still delivers a good commander for Esper knight decks. Definitely not as strong as Edgar Markov or The Ur-Dragon, but comparable to Arahbo in that it cares about combat.
Hopefully you’ve found this discussion engaging, if you think my designs are as egregious as Edgar Markov, or even Inalla, feel free to reach out to tell me I don’t know what I’m doing. If you like playing with custom cards, or just enjoy theorycrafting and brewing commander decks like me, then let me know which of my designs inspire you!
