Magic: The Gathering‘s Edge of Eternities set is coming out in less than a week, and pre-release events are already happening in local game stores for those who want a peek at what’s to come. Edge of Eternities’ Commander decks have already generated a lot of hype for fans due to their cool themes and the (arguably overtuned) nature of the alternate commander for the Counter Intelligence deck, called Kilo, Apogee Mind. Although Kilo, Apogee Mind, is one of the most popular commanders in Edge of Eternities based on EDHREC, it’s also a precon commander. Instead, for the actual EoE set, another commander is true to its name.
It’s not uncommon for Magic: The Gathering players to theorycraft decks way before an expansion is released, and Edge of Eternities is no exception. The set offers a lot of new, thematically unique cards, such as planets, spacecrafts, space cults, aliens, and more. Among these cards is one called Tannuk, Steadfast Second, which is a very powerful mono-Red card that not only fits well in the 99 for various decks, but can also be an exceptional commander. Yet, barring the precon commanders, it ironically is the second most popular.
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How MTG’s Tannuk, Steadfast Second Became a Popular Edge of Eternities Commander
The fact that a card named Tannuk, Steadfast Second, is the second most popular in-set commander can be a fun coincidence, but there is also a reason for it. In fact, the most popular Edge of Eternities commander overall is Ragost, Deft Gastronaut, which is a Boros lobster creature, and a chef at it. Between the immaculate themes of cooking and Food tokens and the fact that this creature is actually a lobster, it captured many fans’ hearts (and commander slots).
Currently, Tannuk, Steadfast Second has 860 decks on EDHREC, whereas Ragost, Deft Gastronaut has 1989.
Yet, Tannuk is a powerful commander in its own right, as it has a CMC of 4 (2 generic, 2 Red) for a 3/5 creature that gives haste to all other creatures under the player’s control, and also gives a 2 generic, 1 Red warp cost to all artifact and Red creature cards in the player’s hand. This is an incredibly strong effect because warp, a new mechanic in MTG‘s Edge of Eternities set, allows players to pay the warp cost of a card to play it and then exile it at the end of the turn if it’s a permanent, which can then be played again from exile for its full mana cost.
Possible Tannuk, Steadfast Second Combos in Magic: The Gathering
Many commanders live or die by the combos they make possible, and there is no shortage for Tannuk. Magic: The Gathering‘s Final Fantasy set is the perfect place to start because one can play Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant, for a warp cost of 3 instead of its regular CMC of 6, allowing players to draw a lot of cards. Another fantastic combo is with Etali, Primal Storm, which can be played for 3 and given haste, attacking immediately and activating its effect, which further allows the user to play any cards from the top of the library of all those at the table.
Another obvious combo is with Portal to Phyrexia, which is an artifact that normally costs 9, makes each opponent sacrifice three creatures, and allows players to put any creature from any graveyard onto the battlefield under their control at the start of their turn. However, Magic: The Gathering‘s release schedule makes older sets rotate out of Standard with Edge of Eternities, so the Tannuk + Portal to Phyrexia combo won’t be available in this format. The possibilities with Tannuk are endless, and it’s worth noting that the conditions imposed by warp remain in effect even if Tannuk is removed from the battlefield, meaning that any of the spells cast with warp will remain playable later for their full cost.
- Original Release Date
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August 5, 1993
- Designer
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Richard Garfield
- Player Count
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2+
- Age Recommendation
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13+
