Partner Commanders
If you couldn't tell from my URL, Battlebond is my favourite set in Magic history. A large part of that is because of the Partner Commanders, which were fun, flavourful, and allowed for a fun synergy both in and outside of Commander.
Ikoria's Commander product sees a return to Partner Commanders, this time showing Bonders with their animal companions.
Brallin and Shabraz, the Jeskai commanders, are in the cycling deck. Brallin gives you value off of discarding, Shabraz gives you value off of drawing. Pretty simple, right? There are so many great synergies with these cards, and a love for extra value off of drawing was sparked for me back when Teferi, Hero of Dominaria was released.
I really appreciate WOTC embracing some lighthearted, ridiculous fun here with a Shark Bird. It's really not something I expected them to do.
The Sultai partners are Cazur and Ukkima, and they are from the Mutate deck. These two share a fun aesthetic, and have a cute synergy, but Cazur's ability seems a little too clunky for a powerful +1/+1 counter build. This might be fun with Ninjitsu effects, however, since Ukkima is unblockable, or perhaps a Voltron build with the extra oomph of Ukkima's trigger.
This Temur pair mirrors the Chakram Slinger and Chakram Retriever pair from Battlebond, a personal favourite of mine. They're found in the Instants deck, and while they might not synergize with that theme specifically, they're still dripping with flavour. With both of them out, you can exile cards off the top of everybody's libraries and cast them whenever you want - like a more powerful, 3-colour version of Etali, Primal Storm. Maybe some Fateseal effects would be fun in this deck!
The flavour behind this Mardu pairing is a little worrisome - Trynn appears to set unsuspecting Humans "free" for Silvar to devour at their whim. This is a despicable pairing, and isn't all that surprising given the negative disposition Humans have in this plane. Besides that, this pair is difficult to build around - Trynn's token generating is clunky and hard to guarantee, and Silvar appears to be a nerfed Yahenni. I suppose if you like Yahenni, but wanted more than just mono-black, these guys might be for you.
Last but not least, we have an Abzan pairing from the "counters matter" deck that I've affectionately dubbed "Keyword Soup". These two do have a few interesting mechanics between them - Yannik can distribute a ton of counters around, and Nikara can give you extra value when your creatures die. Between the two of them, there are plenty of good synergies - Yannik's effect can be abused pretty easily with cards like Ephemerate, and I'm sure there's some hidden combo with them and a card like Felidar Guardian. Nikara is great because she gives you card draw from the command zone, meaning you don't need as much in your deck, allowing more slots for interaction or what-have you.
Well, thank you for reading this overview of the new partner commanders! I just get so excited about mechanics like these that I can't help but share my love for them.
