A new Azorius Knight named Haytham Kenway will soon drop into the Magic: The Gathering Commander format through the Universes Beyond Assassin’s Creed set, showcasing three powerful abilities.
There was a lack of powerful Azorious Knight commanders within the MTG Commander format until June 18, when Assassin’s Creed spoilers brought Haytham Kenway into the fold. Knight builds within Eternal formats, like Commander, are typically aggressive creature-heavy builds that rely on buffs and removal to overpower opponents. Haytham Kenway checks both those boxes while also protecting itself and other Knights from the Assassin creature type.
A four-drop 3/3 isn’t the best rate for a Legendary commander, but Haytham Kenway makes up for that through his passive and active abilities. The Human Knight is an above-average Lord, pumping the baseline stats of all Knights by +2/+2, instead of the normal +1/+1. But the buff is only applied to “other Knights” and not himself.
Haytham Kenway has a second ability that exiles up to one target creature from each opponent upon entering the battlefield, which is most likely why the Human Knight’s casting cost is 2WU. Within any MTG format, being able to remove an opponent’s key creature from play while buffing the stats of your creatures is S-tier status.
And the Legendary Azorius Human Knight has protection from Assassins, while giving other Knights protection as well. Flavorwise, though, WotC missed an opportunity to have Ratonhnhaké:ton equipped with a special ability that could eliminate his father, Haytham Kenway.
You can test out Haytham Kenway as an MTG Azorious commander when the Universes Beyond Assassin’s Creed set releases on July 5.
