Magic: The Gatheringis host to countless creature types, from ever-present fantasy sterotypes like Dragons, Angels and Demons, to in-house creations like Aetherborn, Vedalken, and whatever the heck a Brushwagg’s supposed to be. But one thing unifies every single one: changelings.
Changelings aren’t their own creature type, and instead are an ability that gives them every type at once.The ability even appears on a number of non-creatureKindred spells, giving them creature types that can synergize with other cards. If you’re running a typal Commander deck, you may want to consider fleshing it out with a few shifty changelings
10Chameleon Colossus
Why Isn’t Chameleon A Real Creature Type?
As a package of stats with an expensive activated ability, Chameleon Colossus is nothing special, but toss in a random protection ability, and suddenly it looks more appealing. There’s no guarantee that protection from black matters every game, but it’s rare for a protection ability to be completely dead in Commander.
Colossus can slot intoan Elf deck, where you have tons of excess mana to activate its ability, ora Dragon deck, where it’s significantly cheaper than most of your expensive threats. It’s an all-star for Baru, Wurmspeaker, which has the misfortune of being tied to Wurm creatures.
9Irregular Cohort
Budget-Friendly Changelings
Irregular Cohort’s tame on power level, but some players operate under tight budget restrictions, and Cohort’s a 10-cent card that functions well enough in typal decks. When your deck cares about a specific creature type, all you want is to have as many of those creatures on board as possible, and Cohort’s an easy 2-for-1 deal.
This tagteam’s enters-the-battlefield ability also makes it a prime target forflicker effectsand small-ball reanimation. Again, doing so won’t blow the game wide open, but it’s a solid option for strict budgeteers.
8Taurean Mauler
A Beast Of A Shapeshifter
Used to be that people would play Taurean Mauler in their normal decks because of the way it scales to a four-player Commander game. It still gets just as big, just as fast, even more so now that the format has a strong emphasis on efficiency, but present-day Commander just isn’t dictated by large stat-beasts.
You’re not running this in the average deck anymore, but the changeling ability still gives it a home in typal builds.Goblins, Beasts, Dragons,Vampires,ElementalsandDinosaursare all popular decks that usually touch red and don’t mind a random 3-mana 10/10.
7Changeling Outcast
As Cheap As The Come
This littleone-mana critteris very unassuming, but don’t underestimate the power of cheap plays in typal decks. Plenty of creature-focused payoffs simply care that you’re casting creatures of the chosen type, regardless of the stat-lines they carry. A one-drop can trigger all your typal payoffs without taxing your mana.
Perhaps the best home for Changeling Outcast isNinjas, which thrive off of early, evasive creatures. Not only is Outcast a Ninja itself, butit enables Ninjitsueffortlessly. Edgar Markov doesn’t mind this being a one-mana Vampire, and Admiral Beckett Brass welcomes any evasive one-dropPirateaboard her ship.
6Orvar, The All-Form
The Biggest Copycat
Orvar, the All-Form takes some finagling to make work, which means it’s not a changeling that you just slot into any typal deck. It specifically requires that you target your own permanents with instants and sorceries, though the payoff is that you just get free copies of permanents at almost no cost.
Orvar’s actually a wildly powerful commander, though that has little to do with the changeling ability. Some typal decks overlap with the spellcasting theme, namelyWizardsandMerfolk, though you’ll need to consciously run spells that can target your own permanents.
5Mirror Entity
A Vampire With A Reflection
Mirror Entity’s a powerful go-wide payoff, though you don’t need to be bound to a specific creature type to put it to good use. It’s made an appearance in four differentCommander precons, only two of which focused on creature type synergies.
Mirror Entity acts as a finisher for any deck that can flood the board with creatures, regardless of how important the changeling text is. Funnily enough, since it essentially transforms all your creatures into changelings, it can sidestep random typal text on cards like Crux of Fate, Arachnogenesis, and Kindred Dominance.
4Realmwalker
The Underdogs' Best Friend
Any typal deck can put Realmwalker to good use. It’s at its best with niche factions, though you could easily slot this into your Elf or Dinosaur deck as an additional source of card advantage that carries the creature type your deck cares about.
Realmwalker’s ideal home is in decks that focus on less popular creature types, since those factions often lack dedicated card draw. Bears,Treefolk, Druids,Hydraand Squirrels are all green-based creature types that don’t have the best card draw options available to them.
3Maskwood Nexus
Power In Solidarity
Maskwood Nexus isn’t a changeling itself, but creating them makes it just as viable in a typal deck as any actual changeling would be. It’s a riff on Birthing Boughs, which has a similar activated ability with the numbers tweaked just a bit differently.
The real appeal to Nexus is its ability to morph all your creatures into the desired creature type. Sometimes you play a typal support card that doesn’t actually have the appropriate type itself (see: Grave Titan in Zombie decks), but Maskwood Nexus fixes that and assures every creature you play fits into the overall gameplan.
2Black Market Connections
Give A Little, Get A Lot
Black Market Connections is just an incredible Commander card, let alone one that spits out changelings for your typal deck. Similar to Realmwalker, Connections can supplement a less popular typal deck with ramp, card draw, and board presence, all at once, but for a cost.
Despite receiving a reprint inThe Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander, it’s still a fairly expensive card and will probably remain so. That’s due to just how versatile it is; it’s just as much of a powerhouse card in non-thematic decks as it is in typal decks.
1Morophon, The Boundless
Commander #1 For Mutant Ninja Turtles
Morophon, the Boundless is always knocking at the door as the commander of your typal deck, regardless of which type you’re building around. It was designed to create a workable commander for underrepresented creature types that don’t have a powerful commander yet. Crabs, perhaps.
Morphon has two main advantages over more deliberate typal legends. First, it provides a huge mana discount, making it a consideration for decks focused on large, expensive creatures (Dragons, Demons). Second, beinga 5-color legendmeans you may play the best of the best of your desired creature type with no color identity restrictions.
