Magic’s He-Man Command Tower Is a Perfect ’80s Throwback

August 26, 2026

A Commander essential gets a Masters of the Universe makeover

Magic: The Gathering players have seen plenty of premium reprints, but the latest Secret Lair announcement is aimed as much at character and presentation as card value. Wizards of the Coast is revisiting Masters of the Universe with a collection of artwork inspired by the franchise’s classic packaging, animation and larger-than-life heroes and villains.

At the centre of the crossover is Command Tower, arguably the defining utility card in the Commander format. The new version shows Castle Grayskull, the skull-faced fortress on Eternia and the source of He-Man’s power.

Castle Grayskull on one side, Snake Mountain on the other

This is not simply a full-art version. The card is double-sided: turn it over and Castle Grayskull becomes Snake Mountain, Skeletor’s stronghold. That gives players a small but entertaining way to choose between the forces of good and evil when building or playing a Commander deck.

Why Command Tower matters in Commander

Command Tower can produce one mana of any colour in your Commander’s colour identity, and it does not enter the battlefield tapped. For decks using two or more colours, that makes it close to an automatic inclusion.

The card first appeared in the original Commander decks in 2011 and has been printed repeatedly in Commander preconstructed decks and Secret Lair releases. As a result, ordinary copies cost less than $1. That is a very different story from Rhystic Study, a blue common from 2000’s Prophecy that became substantially more powerful in four-player games and still costs about $60 for the cheapest copies.

With Command Tower, the attraction is therefore not making an expensive card affordable. It is choosing a particularly memorable version of a card that millions of players already use.

What is included in the drop?

Command Tower appears in the five-card “Sold Separately” Drop. The other Masters of the Universe reimaginings are:

Fortune, Loyal Steed, presented as Battle Cat.
Ravenous Ride, reworked as Panthor.
Throne of the God-Pharaoh, transformed into the Bone Throne.
Sword of War and Peace, renamed He-Man’s Sword of Power.

Wizards announced the Superdrop on Monday. The five-card set is priced at $29.99 in nonfoil or $39.99 in foil, with sales beginning on September 14. The supplied prices are in US dollars.

More than just a licensed-art novelty

Several of the remaining cards are modestly priced, although a few offer more substantial reprint value. Sakashima the Impostor, illustrated as Man-E-Faces, is a versatile copy card available for about $14 in its cheapest printings. Other notable cards include Emiel the Blessed as Swift Wind at $14, Konda’s Banner as Battle Harness at $12, plus Breach the Multiverse and Necrogen Mists, each listed at $11.

None reaches the price level of Rhystic Study, but the collection is more considered than a group of inexpensive cards paired with costly branding. It combines useful reprints with a mixture of classic cartoon imagery and new illustrations.

For players who already put Command Tower into most of their Commander decks, the decision may come down to flavour: Castle Grayskull for heroic decks, or Snake Mountain for a villainous table presence.