The best new Magic: The Gathering cards from 2023 from each of the five colours

It’s the end of 2023, and it is the time of the year again when I list down some of the most influential Magic: The Gathering cards released this year!

2023 was another massive year for Magic: The Gathering, especially with the culmination of the Phyrexian multiverse invasion arc, and the release of the Universes Beyond sets such as The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and Doctor Who.

Things are however not rosy with Wizards of the Coast: Hasbro recently announced they were laying off 1,100 employees, including those from its subsidiary Wizards of the Coast despite the success of Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons in 2023.

Nonetheless, here are some of the most influential cards in 2023 from each of Magic: The Gathering colours (in WURBG sequence) for the Commander format.

Note: anyone looking through this list will notice a trend, and yes cards from the Universes Beyond set The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth have been extremely influential in more than one format this year. I also prefer to play Commander at the highest power level, but the cards mentioned below ought to be considered for pods of all levels too.

Best White Card: Boromir, Warden of the Tower

White is generally the colour where you can find the best hatebears and stax pieces, and Boromir, Warden of the Tower is not an exception.

Released in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, Boromir, Warden of the Tower is a 3/3 legendary Human Soldier with vigilance which flat out prevents your opponents from casting spells for free.

This includes many zero mana artifacts such as Jeweled Lotus and Lotus Petal, as well as spells with free alternate costs such as Deflecting Swat and Fierce Guardianship, since they do not require mana to cast when the criterion to cast them for free is met.

You can also sacrifice Boromir, Warden of the Tower to give all creatures you control indestructible until end of turn. The Ring also tempts you, but it’s a mechanic that, in my opinion, does not do much in a multiplayer game.

Giving your creature indestructible can be a lifesaver if you need other stax pieces (I am assuming if you play Boromir, Warden of the Tower, you are playing a stax deck) to stay alive, or if you just want to beat down someone and survive a board wipe.

For two generic mana and one white mana, Boromir, Warden of the Tower does a lot on its own, and is an auto-inclusion if you play a stax deck with white in it.

Best Blue Card: Borne Upon a Wind

Another card from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, Borne Upon a Wind is an instant card that has revitalised a particular iconic Magic: The Gathering card. For one generic mana and one blue mana, Borne Upon a Wind, when successfully cast, allows you to cast all spells at instant speed while drawing you a card.

This card is particularly good with the iconic Necropotence, because with Necropotence, you can pay a lot of life to exile cards before putting them into your hand at your end step. The only trouble is, you cannot play most of those cards you just put in your hand because it is now your end step.

With Borne Upon a Wind, you can now play all of your spells in your hand at your end step if you have enough mana to cast Borne Upon a Wind and other spells in your hand. You can even potentially win if you manage to put your win conditions as well as cheap mana sources into your hand with the cards you exiled with Necropotence.

Borne Upon a Wind can also be cast when it's your opponent’s turn, or even during your upkeep, to potentially steal a win right under their noses. And I have successfully done that before, so yes Borne Upon a Wind has been a big win in 2023.

Best Red Card: Etali, Primal Conqueror

Etali, Primal Conqueror is technically a Gruul creature with green identity, too, but considering that you need red mana to cast it face up, I am listing it as my favourite red card.

Released in March of the Machine (yes, finally not a Tolkien inspiration), for five generic mana and two red mana, Etali, Primal Conqueror is a 7/7 legendary Elder Dinosaur with an extremely spicy enter the battlefield effect.

When it enters the battlefield, each player exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card. You can then choose to cast them without paying their mana costs, and yes, you can also choose to stack all of the nonland spells in whatever manner you prefer.

Etali, Primal Conqueror is a lot of stupid Dinosaur fun, and it’s my Commander for Historic Brawl in Arena because it is just so satisfying to cast big spells for free (think the likes of Emrakul, the Promised End).

Etali, Primal Conqueror also scales better when your opponents play higher power decks, because the chance of flipping into a big threat with their decks is much higher with higher power decks.

You can also choose to transform Etali, Primal Conqueror with nine generic mana and one green Phyrexian mana (pay two life or one green mana) into Etali, Primal Sickness, an 11/11 Phyrexian Elder Dinosaur with Trample and Indestructible.

Etali, Primal Sickness gives players poison counters when it deals combat damage (in other words, infect) to a player, and a player loses the game with ten poison counters.

Transforming Etali, Primal Conqueror is mostly a last resort though, because why would you not want to keep casting Etali, Primal Conqueror to play all of your opponents’ decks? So yes, Etali, Primal Conqueror is an extremely good pay off in the command zone for decks that win with Food Chain, if you can keep casting a creature such as Squee, the Immortal from exile to generate 10 million mana or something.

I love big Dinosaurs, and a big red Dinosaur that relies on some RNG to win you games? Count me in!

Best Black Card: Orcish Bowmasters

I don’t think I am exaggerating when I think The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth has the most impact in Commander this year, because the best new black card, in my opinion, is none other than Orcish Bowmasters.

For one generic and one black mana, Orcish Bowmasters is a 1/1 Orc Archer with Flash. This is important, because whenever Orcish Bowmasters enters the battlefield and whenever an opponent draws a card outside of the first they draw in their draw step, Orcish Bowmasters deals 1 damage to any target.

You also get to amass Orcs 1 to make an Orc Army token (if you don’t already have one) and put a +1/+1 counter on it. The amass mechanic is often overlooked because Orcish Bowmasters does so much with its main triggered ability.

Orcish Bowmasters punishes your opponents when they draw cards, and the best part is you can cast Orcish Bowmasters when they draw off card draw engines such as Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study because of Flash.

Orcish Bowmasters is even more punishing with wheels, such as Timetwister or Wheel of Fortune. When they all successfully resolve, you get to ping any or multiple targets for a total of 21 damage, and you also get a chonky 21/21 Orc Army (or more if Orcish Bowmasters has already been around for a few turn cycles).

This card is so good that it has also seen a lot of play in other formats, including Modern. Orcish Bowmasters is such a big menace that it has helped to nullify Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, which was arguably one of the most annoying card in Modern before The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ was released.

Best Green Card: Delighted Halfling

Yes, I know. It’s another card from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and Delighted Halfling is just a mana dork. What is so special about it?

For one, Delighted Halfling is a better Cavern of Souls on a creature because for one green mana, Delighted Halfling is a 1/2 Halfling Creature with the ability to add one mana of any colour to cast a legendary spell that cannot be countered.

Yes, it is any legendary spell for Delighted Halfling. Unlike Cavern of Souls, Delighted Halfling can be tapped for any mana to cast any legendary artifact, legendary enchantment, and even legendary sorcery spell like Karn's Temporal Sundering.

Tapping Delighted Halfling to cast your Commander also makes your Commander uncounterable (just like Cavern of Souls), and it is especially vital if your Commander is your win condition or an outlet for you to win.

The only issue for Delighted Halfling is the existence of Orcish Bowmasters, which can potentially kill it if someone draws more than one card a turn, and another opponent has the opportunity to Flash in Orcish Bowmasters. That is just the sad state for mana dorks these days.

However, Delighted Halfling only costs one green mana, makes all of your legendary spells uncounterable, and at its worst, it is just a generic mana rock. You cannot keep playing around a potential Orcish Bowmasters, so for all that Delighted Halfling can do, it is my green card of the year.

Bonus: The One Ring

I have almost come to the end, but what 2023 review would it be if I leave out The One Ring from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth?

Now, I am going to put up my hands, and admit that I initially did not think The One Ring will be such a powerful card. I was so wrong.

For 4 generic mana, The One Ring is an indestructible legendary artifact. If you cast it and it enters the battlefield, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.

That means your opponents cannot swing at you with creatures, or target you with any spells until your next turn, and this is potentially a lifesaver.

The best part about the card is, however, its ability to draw you cards. Every time you tap The One Ring, you put a burden counter on it and draw a card for each burden counter on it. The only downside is you lose one life at the beginning of your upkeep for each burden counter on The One Ring.

This ability is powerful because you can draw an additional six cards in three turns, and that is very good card advantage. Yes, you lose some life every turn, but The One Ring is also indestructible, making it extremely difficult for your opponents to interact with, and you really should have some bounce spells to maximise the potential of The One Ring (and to not lose too much life).

Coupled with the fact that The One Ring is a colourless artifact, The One Ring can be slotted into just about every deck, and it is seeing a lot of play in Commander, Legacy and Modern.

The power of The One Ring is ubiquitous, and it definitely has to be the most influential card in Magic: The Gathering in 2023.

And with that, it is time to move onto 2024. With Ravnica Remastered, Fallout, Modern Horizons III all scheduled for 2024, there is a lot to look forward to in the new year!

Jay is a content creator who likes to hoard vintage photographic lenses, and loses too often in Dota 2 and Magic: The Gathering after work.

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