Opposition Agent – Commander Legends MTG Review

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

This might be the Commander Legends card that is getting the most pre-release discussion, and it’s easy to see why. It is devastating against certain kinds of combo decks in larger formats – some can’t even win as long as it’s in play – and other things besides, like fetchlands, Rampant Growth effects, a number of planeswalker ultimates, and casual favorites like the transmute keyword. While it’s still a creature, and creature removal in the formats where it’s legal is comparably powerful, that’s not always much of a consolation when you have to get it off the table just to make your deck active again. And if it makes people actually embrace the point of playing a singleton format like Commander, all the better!

Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander: 4/5

Opposition Agent is arguably the “constructed plant” card of Commander Legends…or, if not that, certainly close to it! The effect is brutally powerful: you get to counter tutor effects in a way that’s to your benefit, whether it’s turning their fetch lands against them or just borrowing a spell for your nefarious purposes. Information is also nice, and Opposition Agent offers it in spades. But what makes this really vicious is that it has flash, which can make it hard to respond in advance, and it does a lot of subtly (and not subtly) rude things.

(As a quick reminder, Opposition Agent lets you “fail to find” if you’re searching for defined characteristics, like a specific card type, but you must find a card with an unconditional tutor if they have a card in their library. Also, I believe the last Opposition Agent to hit play is the one that will take effect if there are multiples.)

Opposition Agent is probably going to be a black staple in Commander, given the strength of tutor effects overall and the ubiquity of such effects. It’s likely a sideboard card in Legacy, but it’s a brutally powerful one against some of the format’s tricks, like Defense of the Heart combos, even if you still have to pay for them. A 3/2 body is okay in a pinch, but look at that as more of a bonus on top of doing rude things to their deck.

Constructed: 3.5 (I think this’ll be a strong sideboard piece in Legacy)
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.25
Multiplayer: 4
Commander: 5 (little reason to not run this if you’re in black, truth be told)