Perhaps fittingly for a card that lacks black in
its casting cost, these guys are close to the
Platonic ideal of a "group hug" commander for
that format. A big bonus for everyone, a
potential asymmetry for yourself, and stats that
make them incredibly hard for That Guy to get
off the table (just watch out for Swat). While
Kynaios and Tiro are primarily a defensive card,
don't misread them and forget that they don't
literally have the defender keyword - I can
think of few creatures harder to effectively
block or deal with when they're carrying
something like a Behemoth Sledge.
These two gentlemen are…interesting. They give
you an additional card, but they also give your
opponents additional resources. Both parts of
these make them decent in Commander, where
helping out your opponents can buy you some
leniency if you’re not threatening them with
imminent death. They work well for “group
hug”-style decks, where you allow everyone to
amass resources before annihilating them.
Commanders like these are always interesting,
because they won't win you the game on their
own, but they make for interesting games and
rarely draw ire on their own. Them also being a
2/8 body makes them rather resilient and hard to
kill, and nobody minds that for the most part.
