While not quite causing the colossal meta shake-up that occurred when Wizards of the Coast first introduced Planeswalkers to Magic: The Gathering, Companions are certainly having a similar effect.
Released as part of new set Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths last week for MTG Arena, Companions are incredibly powerful creature spells that behave not too dissimilar to a player’s chosen champion in the singleton Commander format. Not only does a chosen companion always start the game in the user’s opening hand, but can be cast – albeit only once – from outside the game. What distinguishes this particular mechanics from those added in the past, however, is the unique effect that comes from meeting the prerequisite demands of each individual companion.
These range from mana color and cost restrictions to more wild restraints such as adding a further 20 cards to the standard 60-card deck. Unsurprisingly, some Companion effects have already proven to be more potent than others in competitive play, but which ones stand above the rest?
The gallery below features those currently considered to be in the top-tier of the meta, though as always, it goes without saying that your mileage will vary wildly depending on match-ups and personal deck-building skills.
Of the eight specifically shown here, Lutri, the Spellchaser is arguably the weakest, its Flash effect proving not to be enough of a reward for playing what is essentially a Commander deck in Standard format. Wizards preemptively opted to ban the card from singleton rulesets for fear it would prove too powerful, though ironically, the complete opposite is true outside of such formats.
Ikoria is available now for all Magic: The Gathering Arena players, with a full tabletop release due to arrive next month following manufacturing delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. See here for all the latest updates on that front.