IntroductionIn today’s article, we’re taking another look at the best MTG product of the year, the Mystery Booster: Commander Edition. This time, we'll focus on Jandor, Fortuned Traveler, a Naya commander who brings together several kinds of animals and uses Saddle, a largely overlooked mechanic. Let’s get into it.Jandor, Fortuned Traveler, the CommanderJandor, Fortuned Traveler is a 4-mana 2/4 Naya commander who turns your Beasts, Camels, Horses, Elephants, and Wolves into Mounts in addition to their other types and gives them Saddle 2. That means your creatures will be able to Saddle one another, which is an interesting game plan.To Saddle a Mount, you must tap other creatures with total power equal to or greater than the specified number - in this case, 2 - at sorcery speed. One Mount can even Saddle another. You may tap creatures that just entered the battlefield to pay for this and put them to work before they can attack, much like you can do with Crew on Vehicles. A Mount is still a regular creature and can attack even if it hasn’t been Saddled.The payoff is that whenever one of your Saddled creatures attacks, Jandor gives it +2/+2 until the end of the turn, draws you a card, and creates a Food token. This ability triggers for each attacker that fits these conditions, and they don’t need to deal combat damage to do so. Three Saddled Mounts mean three cards and three Food tokens, even if they’re blocked.The DeckThis list combines creatures with attack triggers, effects that reward you for tapping creatures, and a Food package. You want to develop your board and keep attacking to refill your hand, then use the artifacts you create to cast your next spells.Here it is:RampBecause this list plays green, you can ramp with Nature's Lore, Three Visits, and Cultivate, while Sol Ring and Arcane Signet do their usual work. The first two find Forests, including Temple Garden and Stomping Ground, and fix your colors without forcing you to rely solely on basic lands.After you attack a few times, you can tap Bag End Banquet to create one colorless mana for each Food you control. Night of the Sweets' Revenge lets you tap those tokens to get green mana, while Inspiring Statuary lets you use your artifacts to pay for nonartifact spells. None of these effects force you to sacrifice your Food, so you can keep using the tokens later on.Who Will Saddle Your Creatures?You have to tap creatures to Saddle your other creatures, and, ideally, you should get something else out of that as well. Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero draws a card and gives you a life point when it is tapped, even if it never attacks. If Kona, Rescue Beastie remains tapped, it lets you put a permanent from your hand onto the battlefield at the beginning of your second main phase. Here's a simple example: you can use Kona to saddle a Mount before combat, then put Bag End Banquet onto the battlefield without paying 6 mana.Kolodin, Triumph Caster gives Mounts Haste and keeps those that enter under your control Saddled until the end of the turn. This means they can attack immediately and get a lot of value from your commander. Alacrian Armory Saddles a Mount at the beginning of combat on your turn, so you don't have to tap another creature, and gives your board Vigilance. Like so, you can keep your blockers available after they attack, which matters considering tapping creatures is essential to this deck.Mounts and Enter-the-Battlefield AbilitiesAutarch Mammoth creates a 3/3 Elephant when it enters and whenever it attacks while Saddled, so it gives you more creatures to work with. With Jandor, you can use Saddle 2 instead of its original Saddle 5, and this will allow you to trigger that attack ability more easily without compromising your board.Guardian Sunmare puts a nonland permanent with a mana value of three or less from your library directly onto the battlefield when it attacks while Saddled. With it, you can find Academy Manufactor to set up your Food plan or Kolodin, Triumph Caster to set up your next attackers. Fortune, Loyal Steed can blink itself and up to one creature that Saddled it at the end of combat if it attacked while Saddled. With Caradora, Heart of Alacria, you can search for another Mount or Vehicle to put into your hand. This card searches for card types in your library specifically, so you can’t find just any card because Jandor is on the battlefield.Rhythm of the Wild gives Haste to your nontoken creatures and, like so, makes the ones you've just put in play even more useful. This enchantment also protects your creature spells, so you'll be able to resolve threats when an opponent is holding up blue mana even if counterspells aren’t welcome at your table.Food and Card AdvantageAcademy Manufactor creates a Food, a Clue, and a Treasure whenever you create a Food, so it creates even more value from your token-making effects. Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator gives you a Treasure for each Food you would create. When you control both, you can use Bilbo’s effect first and then Manufactor’s to turn one Food from Jandor into two tokens of each type.Peregrin Took creates a Food whenever you create tokens and lets you sacrifice three Foods to draw a card. This is another way to refill your hand when you can’t attack. You can also use Food like usual to get life points and enable Crested Sunmare, which creates a 5/5 Horse at the beginning of each end step if you gained life points that turn. Holding up mana to use a Food token on an opponent’s turn can give you another creature for the next combat.Garruk's Uprising draws cards whenever a creature with power four or greater enters under your control. It also gives your board Trample, which means Jandor’s buffs will be able to get past boards full of small blockers.More Triggers for the CommanderAnnie Joins Up makes your legendary creatures trigger an extra time. Because your main ability is on Jandor, every Saddled Mount that attacks will trigger an extra time, even if the Mount itself isn’t legendary.Windcrag Siege makes abilities triggered when attacking trigger an extra time as well if you pick its Mardu mode. With both enchantments on the battlefield, each Saddled Mount that attacks will trigger Jandor three times, which will give it +6/+6 and give you three cards and three Foods. It’s three triggers because each enchantment adds one to the original trigger. They don't multiply.Protection and RemovalBecause your plan relies on creatures and other permanents, a board wipe can set you back considerably. Heroic Intervention and Boros Charm protect you against destruction and even keep your board intact after you use your own Blasphemous Act.Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile answer troublesome creatures, while Beast Within and Generous Gift can deal with other permanents. Wicked Wolf is also a removal: it can go into battle as soon as it enters, and you can use your Food to make it bigger and Indestructible until the end of the turn before combat resolves.Win ConditionsOnce you have several creatures on the battlefield, Craterhoof Behemoth will turn your setup into power and Trample. You can use it to Saddle Calamity, Galloping Inferno, which creates two tapped and attacking copies of a nonlegendary creature that Saddled it that turn when it attacks while Saddled. Like so, you'll activate Behemoth’s enter-the-battlefield effect twice and pump your entire board before you declare any blocks.Blossoming Bogbeast is another way to end the game. It gives you two life points when it attacks and gives your creatures Trample and a buff based on the life points you’ve gained that turn. If you use a Food token before attacking, this buff can get to +5/+5.How to PlayYou want to access all three of your colors as soon as possible, whether through your lands or ramp, and the creatures you can use to start Saddling. Early on, look after mana and smaller creatures so you can use Jandor's ability on something as soon as you put it in play.In the midgame, you need to choose which creatures you'll attack with and which you'll tap to Saddle and also keep your card-draw pieces and trigger doublers around. You should also hold a creature in your hand after developing your board: being able to draw lots of cards doesn’t make rebuilding after a board wipe painless.When it’s time to finish the game, count how many attackers you’ll have left after Saddling and check whether you can hold up mana for protection. Tapping one more creature to draw another card isn’t always worth it if you need that creature for the last attack.Final ThoughtsJandor is insanely fun and built around a mechanic MTG has barely explored. Saddle is a neat take on Vehicles: it captures the idea of riding a creature with a cost similar to Crewing the artifacts introduced in Kaladesh, but it hasn’t seen much play in the game. Thanks to the Mystery Booster: Commander Edition, we finally have a commander that makes the most of this mechanic and gives this strategy a direct payoff.And we can even build a Camel typal deck if we want to.What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.Thank you for reading, and see you next time!
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