Death is not the end inMagic: The Gathering’s latest Commander release, Graveyard Overdrive. ThisModern Horizons 3preconstructed Commander Deck will tug at your graveyard so often that it might as well be an extension of your hand, with cards to fill your graveyard alongside even more cards that keep coming back for more.
There are a lot of powerful cards to be found in Graveyard Overdrive, including some new cards that have never been seen before. We’ve got Dragons, forgotten Phyrexian machines, and best of all, Lhurgoyfs! We’re taking a look at the best cards in Graveyard Overdrive.
11Siege-Gang Lieutenant
Just look at that smile!
Siege-Gang Commander is a great card, but every great commander is only as good as their lieutenants. Lucky for the Siege-Gang,this Goblin officer is all smiles. Just look at him! That face can do no wrong. I don’t care how many accidents he causes per day. You can’t stay mad at a face like that.
But aside from being a hunk of burning Goblin love, this guy willkeep pumping outGoblinsevery turn your commander is in play, and you can sacrifice them to deal one damage to anything. It’s not quite as good as the Commander’s two damage, but pumping out an endless quantity of Goblins more than makes up for it. That and that irresistible smile.
10Barrowgoyf
A smile only a mother could love.
Lhurgoyfs have been a tragically underused creature type in Magic. The first Lhurgoyf got as big as the number of creature cards in all graveyards, making it a fantastic late-game threat.Modern Lhurgoyfs limit their size to the number of card types in all graveyards, but thankfully, there are a lot of card types in modern Magic.
What Barrowgoyf does is adddeathtouch,lifelink, and the possibility ofsnagging a creature from the number of cards it millsoff the top of your deck. That’s a lot for a three-mana creature. You’ll still need to wait a few turns to get the most out of Barrowgoyf, but for three mana, it’s hard to argue with its efficiency.
9Bloodbraid Challenger
Dodge this.
Cascade is a fun mechanic, and Bloodbraid Elf was one of the most cost-efficient ways of making cascade work. Bloodbraid Challenger is simply a larger Bloodbraid Elf, so that automatically makes it a winner in my book.
What makes Bloodbraid Challengerjust a little bit extrais its escape keyword. For the low price of exiling three cards and paying for the card again, it gets to come back into play to cascade all over again. More cascades mean more free cards, which is value that’s hard to beat.
8Exterminator Magmarch
Exterminate. Exterminate.
Exterminator Magmarch gives youdouble value for all your burn/removal spellsso long as there’s a legal target sitting on an opponent’s board. Most multiplayer Commander games will have a ton of legal targets, making every Murder a two-for-one spell.
Add the regenerate keywordfor just two mana, and this Phyrexian Construct is a must-add to any deck that loads a ton of removal spells—which should be pretty much every deck that runs red and black mana.
7Sawhorn Nemesis
Double for you, and just you.
ImagineFurnace of Rath, but it only affected one player. Now imagine that same card, but it was easier to cast, and it also came attached to a 2/4 body. That is Sawhorn Nemesis. So long as this Dinosaur is on the table, one particular player is in for double damage from all sources, including other opponents.
What’s best about Sawhorn Nemesis in Graveyard Overdrive is thatonce the affected opponent dies, you canjust cast something to recur itand then recast it for a different opponent.
6Gluttonous Hellkite
Gulp.
With enough mana,Gluttonous Hellkite could wipe the boardand enter the table asan absolutely massive flying trample creature. Even with a moderate amount of mana, it’s a great way to decongest a crowded table and still wind up with a big Dragon.
But here’s the thing about Gluttonous Hellkite: even if you cast it without paying for X, it’s still a 3/3 flying trample dragon for three mana. That’s not bad for a third-turn play, sodon’t feel like you’ve gotta eat the entire board to get valueout of this card.
5Tempt With Mayhem
One for you, two for me!
Any card that forces a raw deal on an entire table of players is just incredibly fun. Tempt with Mayhem does exactly that byoffering a copy of an instant or sorcery spell, but if they copy it, you get a copy too. That one Shock can turn into six or even eight damage if an entire table takes you up on your offer.
Of course, there’s every reason for your opponents to refuse, but that’s when you turn on the charm.Sweeten the deal with a little table politics, and you’ll find Tempt with Mayhem to pay dividends you never would have guessed.
4Broodmate Tyrant
That’s a lot of Dragons.
Two 5/5 Dragons for seven mana isn’t bad on its own, but Magic has seen better. What’s far more interesting is what happens when youpay this card’s encore cost. Suddenly, you get two 5/5 Dragons per each opponent. Sure, half of them will die at the end of your turn, but the tokens they generate still stick around to attack the turn after.
With that encore ability, you’d think the best play is to get Broodmate Tyrant into your Graveyard as fast as possible, but an even better plan is to cast it normally. Even in its ‘regular’ form,Broodmate Tyrant can be a potent defensive asset as nobody will want to kill itfor fear of its terrifying encore.
3Disa the Restless
Taming the Lhurgoyf.
Mill cards, get a free Lhurgoyf. Disa would really love a Buried Alive, but Graveyard Overdrive has plenty of ways to mill your deck to potentially find a Lhurgoyf to bring into play.
Sadly, there aren’t that many Lhurgoyfs in all of Magic let alone Graveyard Overdrive. That’s why Disa canmake her own army of Tarmogoyfsso long as she or anyone else on the team can deal combat damage to a player. An escalating army of Tarmogoyfs is hard to argue with.
2Coram, the Undertaker
A spiked shovel doesn’t seem like a great way to dig holes.
Coram is a fantastic Commander. He functions perfectly well all on his own, milling cards into graveyards that could potentially make him larger and letting you cast those cards every turn. If it weren’t for the Lhurgoyf subtheme,Coram would be the ideal commander for Graveyard Overdrive.
Keep in mind thatCoram’s ability lasts for the entire turn. While he mills a single card per player, you could activate some other effect that mills cards to widen your pool of potential spells and lands that Coram could cast.
