Spoiler Highlight: Court of Embereth and Court of Ardenvale in Legacy

Greetings, my esteemed followers of Comma... I mean, Legacy! Well, it seems like it's becoming a recurring theme – Commander cards with the potential to impact Legacy. We're in Wilds of Eldraine spoiler season, and once again, I stumble upon cards designed for the big Commander games but believe they might send ripples into our Legacy.

Before delving into the analysis of these two enchantments, let's tell a little story, considering we're talking about Eldraine...

Once upon a time... there was a mechanic designed for Commander games. Its name was the Monarch, and its intention was to create an emblem that would pass from player to player as attacks and political maneuvers unfolded throughout the game. Someone realized that this mechanic could fit into the 1v1 world of Legacy. The truth is, the majority of these cards didn't have attractive costs for the format, and except for Palace Jailer and Court of Cunning, the mechanic didn't impact Legacy significantly.

A few years passed, and someone at Wizards decided to rework the mechanic, this time in more aggressive bodies and in a way that its effect could be activated multiple times as new instances of its triggered ability entered the game. Thus, the Take the Initiative ability was born. And this, my friends, made sense in Legacy.

With access to 8 ability activators, including a 3-mana one, the White Initiative stormed the format until White Plume Adventurer got banned. In the wake of the fall of its key card, but still recognizing the strength of the delve-into-the-dungeon Undercity ability, players went two ways: playing Monocolored (Red Prison or White Initiative), more stable but with access to only 4 creatures with the ability; or venturing into two-color lists (Boros, Gruul, or Orzhov Initiative), riskier but granting access to 8 dungeon delvers.

So, with the release of the Lord of the Rings set, the pendulum of this balance swung a bit towards the Boros side due to a Monarch card! Forth Eorlingas drew considerable attention because it revived the mechanic that hadn't shown its full potential, but due to its resemblance to the Initiative, it was seen as untapped potential. Since then, the Boros Initiative has become one of the most successful decks in the format, although Red Prison still lurks in the upper tiers.

Now we arrive at Eldraine's new enchantments and what they can offer.

Since Planeswalkers like Karn, the Great Creator and Chandra, Torch of Defiance lost ground in Red Prison to lower-cost cards like Fable of the Mirror-breaker and Laelia, the Blade Reforged, players realized the value of cards that fit into the 2 Colorless + 1 Colored provided by 1 Sol Land (Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors) and a Chrome Mox, Simian Spirit Guide, or Lotus Petal.

An out-of-the-box mechanic like Initiative was needed to make room for a 4-drop in the deck again, in this case, Caves of Chaos Adventurer. The same line of thought applies to Mono White Initiative and Seasoned Dungeoneer. So, as I mentioned earlier, these lists lacked ways to elevate the threat level without resorting to a second color. But now there's a new alternative.

Court of Embereth and Court of Ardenvale activate the Monarch emblem and provide a steady stream of new resources, both from the extra card drawn each turn and their triggered abilities during the upkeep. If played well before the fourth turn, something these decks tend to achieve, there's a huge chance that the opponent simply won't be able to wrest control of the emblem, which will inevitably steer the game in your favor. However, for them to be effective, your deck must be adapted to accelerate them as soon as possible, much like two-color Initiative lists do, leading to more explosive but riskier deck builds.

The Red enchantment is easier to play out of an empty hand and will create a continuous flow of creatures to contest Monarch control if your opponent has the means to challenge it. Additionally, the ability starts pressuring the opponent's life total while you have the emblem, becoming a problem for the opponent, especially since the deck tends to generate Goblin hordes via Goblin Rabblemaster.

On the other hand, Court of Ardenvale doesn't have a direct impact on the board if you don't have cards in the graveyard. However, fortunately, aside from the deck frequently exchanging creatures, cards like City of Traitors and Lotus Petal often find their way to that area of the game that this enchantment targets. Access to cards with sacrifice abilities like Boromir, Warden of the Tower can generate even more value with the ability.

I've come up with a few lists to incorporate the new enchantments into archetypes that I believe can make good use of their abilities. The original versions of these decks already have the potential to cast 4-cost cards on turn 1 quite often, so I made adjustments considering that they will be drawing more of these cards.

Red Court Prison

This proposed Red Prison list borrows ideas from the neighboring Boros Initiative, such as the number of mana sources (18 Lands, 4 Mox, 4 Petal, and 4 Monkeys) to enable your emblem-enabling 4-cost cards. One advantage of having access to Lotus Petal compared to the deck's standard lists is a greater potential to play Blood Moon or Trinisphere on the first turn, at the cost of a less stable mana base.

White Court Initiative

The White Initiative doesn't need to be as explosive as the Red one, as its Court doesn't apply as much pressure. Therefore, it can afford a more stable mana base. Additionally, it doesn't benefit from the colored mana of the Spirit Guides like the above counterpart.

The proposed list aims to generate value with its enchantment's ability through recursion from Boromir's effects, Touch the Spirit Realm, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire. As a bonus, you even have access to the original Monarch guy, Palace Jailer!

Since I've been playing a lot of Boros Initiative recently, I know the havoc the Monarch can wreak when activated early. Upon seeing the preview of Court of Embereth, I had a stroke of genius with it, Red Prison could be built similarly to the Boros list, with the enchantment playing the role that Seasoned Dungeoneer does there, and that motivated me to write this article. Soon after, when I saw the rest of the Courts, the White one also caught my attention.

I hope you enjoyed it, and until next time!

Hail the monarch!