Commander, also known as Elder Dragon Highlander or EDH, is a casual multiplayer format for Magic: the Gathering. It involves players creating a 100-card singleton deck around a legendary creature, often referred to as the commander or general. The color identity of a card can come from any part of that card, including its casting cost and any mana symbols in its text. A Commander deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the commander. If playing a companion, it must adhere to color identity and singleton rules.
Choosing a commander or theme is crucial in MTG, as it dictates the colors you will play. Each player must choose a Legendary Creature to be their commander, and the deck must contain exactly 100 cards. Commander is a unique social format where four players use decks made up of 100 cards and try to be the last person standing. One of these cards is your commander, which must be a Legendary Creature or say that it “can be your commander”.
The mechanics of Commander are derived from a fan-created format known as “Elder Dragon”. In a Magic Commander deck, a 100-card deck is created, including a legendary creature that begins the game in your command zone rather than your own. Commander is a series of supplemental Magic: the Gathering card game products, with mechanics derived from a fan-created format known as “Elder Dragon”.
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Is Commander easier than standard?
The Commander format is relatively accessible due to its informal approach, which makes it more approachable than other competitive deck formats. Additionally, the construction of a Commander deck is relatively straightforward, even if it does not function as intended.
How do Commander decks work?
Commander is a Magic game where players construct 100-card decks, with each card appearing no more than once. The format is primarily played with four players, each with their own deck. Players choose a legendary creature or Planeswalker as their “Commander” or “General” and start the game in the “Command Zone”. If a commander leaves the battlefield, it goes back to the Command Zone and can be cast again for a higher mana cost. Each player’s deck is based on their Commander’s colors.
Players start the game with 40 life points instead of 20, and may lose if dealt 21 or more total points of combat damage from a single Commander throughout the game. Commander supports two to six players, sometimes more. It also has its own “banned list” of cards, controlled by the Commander Rules Committee, which maintains the rules for the format. A list of recommended banned cards can be found on the Wizards of the Coast official website.
Why does everyone play Commander now?
Commander is a popular game for various reasons, including fun, stress relief, competition, and social enjoyment. It was designed with the social aspect in mind, allowing players to enjoy games with friends or groups at local game stores. The format offers crazy card interactions, funny plays, and 2 or 3 hour-5 player games around a big table with snacks, drinks, and music. This social atmosphere is just as important as the cards themselves.
Some people play Commander because they have been playing Magic for a long time, or because they have bought bulk cards from yard sales or friends. This format allows players to use all of their old cards and add new ones while still having fun or competitive fun.
Building a deck involves choosing a Commander, which can be based on theme, color, creature type, funniest card interaction, or control. The Commander chosen will give access to the cards within the colors of the Commander, making it an enjoyable experience for both casual and competitive players.
Throughout the 20+ years of Magic, there are over 700+ legendary creatures for players to choose from. It is essential to choose a Commander that suits your preferences and interests, as it ensures a fun and enjoyable gaming experience for everyone involved.
In summary, Commander is a popular game for many reasons, including socializing, deck building, and enjoying the game with friends and family. It offers a unique format that caters to different preferences and preferences, making it an enjoyable and enjoyable game for all players.
What is the rule for Commander decks?
A Commander deck comprises 100 cards, including one Commander and 99 additional cards (or two Partner Commanders and 98 other cards). Each card is permitted a single copy, with the exception of basic lands, and must align with the commander’s color identity.
What do you need to play Magic Commander?
A Commander MTG deck comprises 100 cards, including one commander and 99 additional cards (or two partner commanders and 98 other cards). It is not permissible for a deck to contain more than one copy of any given card, with the exception of basic lands. Furthermore, all cards in a deck must adhere to the color identity of the commander.
What is the difference between commander deck and regular deck?
The standard meeting has a 60-card deck limit, with a maximum of four cards bearing the same name, with the exception of basic lands. Additionally, the commander meeting has a 100-card limit.
Are Commander decks exactly 100 cards?
The Commander deck construction rules involve players choosing a legendary creature as the commander for their deck. A card’s color identity is determined by its color and any mana symbols in the card’s rules text, and cannot be altered by game effects. A Commander deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the commander, and no two cards in the deck can have the same English name.
Play rules begin with 40 life, and commanders begin the game in the Command Zone. They can be cast, subject to timing restrictions, and their owner must pay for each time it was previously cast. If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile, its owner may place it in the command zone. If a commander is placed in its owner’s hand or library from anywhere, its owner may place it in the command zone.
Commander-ness is a property of the card and cannot be copied or overwritten by continuous effects. The card retains its commander-ness through status changes and is still a commander even when controlled by another player. If a player is dealt 21 points of combat damage by a particular Commander, they lose a game.
Apart from abilities that bring other traditional cards from outside the game, Commander does not function.
Are Magic Commander decks good for beginners?
Wizards’ Starter Commander decks are designed to help new players get into the Commander format at a low entry price. They are a good product to get new friends into Magic or for veteran players to mix things up with a cheap precon battle. However, it is important to consider the decks’ performance as they are intended as an introductory product. Trying to get friends into the game with unfun precons may turn them off Magic. It is also important to see if these decks are worth it for established playgroups.
Are all Commander decks legal?
The Commander card pool includes all Magic cards released by Wizards of the Coast, except for those with silver, gold, or acorn-shaped security stamps. These cards are legal to play with as of their sets’ prerelease. However, the official banned list for Commander games requires prior agreement from other players and may guide playgroups to avoid similar cards. Short explanations for each banned card can be found by clicking on them, but these are not exhaustive and serve as a high-level overview of the experiences each card creates in Commander.
Why is MTG Commander popular?
The casual Magic game encountered difficulties as a result of the decline in the number of casual players and the absence of an engaging element to retain them and their decks. The Commander format addressed this issue by encouraging the construction of decks that included cards that were not typically included in competitive decks.
How much should I spend on a MTG Commander deck?
The average Magic deck costs $200 to $1, 000, depending on the format and the number of staples in the deck. The price of a Magic deck can vary depending on the type of Magic you’re interested in, as each format has its own power levels and format identities. The average price of a Magic deck can range from $20 to $50, 000, depending on the desired MTG format, the age of the cards, and the level of competition in the deck. Ultimately, the cost of a Magic deck depends on factors such as the type of Magic you’re interested in and the level of competition in the game.
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Definitely did not expect some of these decks in here. Party Time was a goal of mine to get and I recently got one, but run Burakos instead because I just love his versatility in a party themed deck. Kinda surprised none of the Lost Caverns of Ixalan precons made it in here based on how crazy the Dinosaur and Merfolk decks always seemed to get.
Personally i think Cavalry Charge is amazing out of the box. The card selection Eminence provides is great, the commander has both flying and first strike making it almost impossible to kill in combat and will often get through reaniming a big knight. It has great card draw and despite only having 3 single target removals, it can feel enough, especially against other precons, since you will surely draw 1. And that deck is so easy to make into a really powerful one, even with just a few upgrades.
Honestly I love that one of the best Doctor Who cards is from one of the best episodes. I think that two parter encapsulates everything Doctor Who is for new viewers and is fairly self contained. Aliens, time travel, body horror, optimism, fleshed out characters it is the best the series has to offer.
To me, one of the best precons of all time is Osgir the Reconstructor from Strixhaven. Simple synergistic commander which can be broken quite easily with little upgrades, solid pre-built deck still available for a decent price nowadays and a unique way to play Boros which can’t be found anywhere else. I can never stop myself to recommend this deck to new and established players.
Urza’s Iron Alliance was my first commander deck when I started to play. I instantly fell in love with it’s mechanics and although I have built my own decks from the ground up since then, I still play it in a powered up version that eliminates it’s slight weaknesses. Funny to find out it is one of the strongest pre cons to this day.
Honorable mention for Reap the Tides. When released it was 20 bucks, but does some degenerate stuff. Another honorable mention is Buckle Up. My cousin saw this deck, looked through it, and asked me how long I needed to build it. I told him it’s a Precon. Some weeks later he was knee deep into Commander
I wish more detail had been gone into why these were selected. I don’t think as much of their power level has to do with cost of cards in the deck. I get that that means they make more sense to purchase. For example Party Time has almost always been a stinker in our group. It just requires too much investment in a board presence to be a threat. A full party is a lot of creatures, to expect to be able to sustain that just doesn’t seem to happen often. And if you have a full party, anyone else with an equal amount of creatures usually those creatures are better as they aren’t trying to assemble different types. I would be interested to see where some other decks rank though. In my opinion, even though it is older, Exquisite Invention is one of the strongest precons. Saheeli is low threat, makes bodies, and reduces costs. And the synergy is very strong, and most board wipes or targeted removal don’t hit the commander.
I never even looked at the Baldur’s Gate precons until this article. There’s like 6 cards in Party Time that I’d written off as being outside of my budget that would massively upgrade some of my decks. Plus if I buy the deck, it’s like paying for just those cards and getting 93 cards for free. Pretty sure that’s how that math works. Thanks for putting me onto that deck I’ma go buy it
I have played many, many precon games. I always brought a few precons with me to my LGS so that people can have a go with fun decks. And whenever I or someone else brought Plunder The Graves led by Meren of Clan Nel Toth, it has never not been a complete problem at the table or completely dominated the game. That deck is very hard to deal with, considering the mad amount of recursion that this deck can bring and it’s very hard to disrupt.
Honorable mention fot Anikthea, Hand of Erebos. It’s so drastically underestimated, but the amount of gas it has is off the rails. It has like 12 cards that draw when playing an enchantment and focusses around graveyard recursion so stuff just keeps coming back while you also never run out of new stuff.
One precon I think that is overlooked is the Quantum Quandrix strixhaven one. This deck is absolutely insane and I’ve never lost with it. Even coming right back from boards wipes and the like. Maybe I am just lucky, but I’ve never lost with Reap the Tides either. On the other hand, I’ve been on the receiving end of the Urza deck and it is brutal; coming back from boardwipes at startling speed and shrugging off interaction like crazy. Even my salty Elesh Norn:MoM deck was ground down by it.
I remember Rebellion Rising is really strong. I got it as a Prize at SCG Con, went to a booth to get sleeves, Sleeved it up, Shuffled it up, then Qued into an On Demand Commander Pod and Dominated that game vs Non Precons. It was sooo resilient with so many Board Wipe Protection and spat out tokens. and Neyali just kept you in card advantage with its ability. It had so much card draw out the box too to keep it going.
I played my Urza precon out of the box and then slightly edited for nearly a year. One of my favourite decks I’ve played, it was insane. I am pretty surprised that Dihada, Binder of Wills didn’t make it on this list though. That deck is truly insane, and some of the cards printed for it (I’m looking at you Reaver Cleaver) are crazy. I played that precon against some very expensive high power EDH decks and absolutely stomped with it.
This is really helpful! Im just getting into magic the gathering and was looking to get my first paper commander deck to play with my friends. This will help me decide on a deck that can compete with my friend’s custom decks. I really wish there were more phyrexian decks, as those are my favorite type of decks ive made in arena so far. I was thinking of getting the corrupting influence deck, but it seems relatively underpowered compared to custom made decks.
Party Time is a great deck, but I have found more success play with the Alternate Commander, Burakos, and his background Folk Hero. It increases the survivability of the deck by a lot by having more treasures for responses, while the draw from the folk hero is still pretty decent. If you combo with 8 and a half tails, you can consistently have an unblockable army plus be immune to all targeting spells and abilities
I love Party Time! My first deck was a Burakos, Party Leader/Folk hero deck using many of the cards that Party time holds, and it is always a blast to use at the table, and it can prove itself to be shockingly capable at ending games despite me not putting in many wincons into the deck. I can sit happy knowing my first deck was able to make half the magic group I play with start to run treasure hate.
In my opinion people always strongly underestimate the atraxa precon. it was just stupidly powerful, caus it was so straight foreward. Play cretures that have, get or give +1/+1 counters, proliferate the counters and overrun your opponents. You dont even have to worry about being attacked to much, cause your commander will be big, has lifelink and vigilance + flying of course. Again: its so simplistic and effective, that it is just powerful
I’ve played the Ahoy Matey’s precon with Admiral Brass, Unsinkable against both other precons and custom made decks and it really holds its own. The ability to use the graveyard and trigger off mills makes it so on your side you really don’t care about creatures having their initial death, and then there’s a fair amount of “take control” creatures that really can deconstruct and opponents board. Round it out with some really harsh board wipes and it’s a strong contender against anything out of the box
I’m still really new to MTG and I probably don’t deserve a say on this but I absolutely love Painbow and Desert Bloom. I don’t know where they rank but I do think they are spectacular. I will say though that this list has given me some amazing insight to some new decks. I didn’t even know a colourless commander deck could exist
I love my Eldrazi Unbound deck, even without many upgrades it’s a beast. But I find it really weird that they put in so many X-cost spells. I understand that by putting 13+ mana into one of these you can cascade into every other spell in the deck, but it feels rough when you hit one while you’re cascading and have X=0 or just not cast it at all. Also, as many people agree, it needed way more Eldrazi creatures.
Deep sea clue is my first Precon, and I made three upgrades to it, esper sentinel, oko crown of thieves and something else I don’t remember. It feels decent. I need to fix the mana base. I’ve won 2/3 of my matches with my pod. Only one person has a ground up EDH the rest of us are precon. My friend bought a merfolk precon and he made $60 worth of upgrades to it and easily took over the game with exploring and getting up to 135 life. His wild growth walker was nuts.
tbh, the best precons, by far,are: 1 – Virtue and Value 2- Rebellion rising 3- Upgrades unleashed 4- Phantom Premonition 5- Painbow These 5 are amazing right out of the box. Possess a real threat to everyone in every commander format variation ( 1×1, 4×4, 6×6, 9×9) and in general are pretty well built. The negative is that: 1 is an aura deck, which we had Galea and Estrid before and have blue. 2 is a Boros aggro deck that is straight forward, and games turn out to be tedious if they are repeated more than twice. 3 is another +1/+1 counter. A different type, but still a +1/+1 deck 4 is also straight forward and too predictable 5 is a 5-colors deck which has a slow start for 1×1 commander.
Timey Wimey is amazingly good. I played it with some family members of my girlfriend over the holidays this past year – and I did not expect it to just pop off and get me the win, the way it did. Rose came in for the final swing of the game, for a whopping 21 damage at once, and funny enough, he had exactly 21 life left by that point (the other 19 of which, she had managed to sneak away from him earlier.) If that deck has a flaw, it would be that the other Doctors outside of Ten feel like they’re a bit of a distraction from the focus of “get stuff out quickly, and get Bad Wolf so high up there she can just nuke a player in one shot.” Sometimes I get tempted to either take apart the one I have and tighten the focus some, or just buy some more of the set in singles and make a new version.
me personally? I am a huge fan of the fallout decks. really good stuff, especially mutant menace. I also love science as well, can’t wait to play it. just got mine today. despite the set being bad? I am a huge fan of deep clue sea. wonderful theming and some great pieces in there. One day I want to get Aura of courage. that one looks really good and reminds me so much of Scrappy survivors. The neon dynasty said has some gray decks as well. March of the machines decks were My favorite among them being growing threat and call for backup.
Timestamps / Chapters: 3:00 Number 5 – Battle for Baldur’s Gate: “Party Time” 5:22 Number 4 – Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 – “Necron Dynasties” 8:27 Number 3 – The Brothers’ War – “Urza’s Iron Alliance” 11:26 Number 2 – Universes Beyond: Doctor Who – “Timey-Wimey” 13:48 Number 1 – Commander Masters: “Eldrazi Unbound”
My son and have just started getting into magic. We have both gotten nothing but pre con commander decks from LOTR, Fallout, Phyrexia all will be one, murder at karkov, wilds of eldrin, and march of the machines. As gas as power LOTR has the most but my favorite is the Phyrexia with the toxic counters.
Hey Prof! I’ve been inspired by your “precons” (decks you’ve built that I can copy), and started a series of my own. I play a lot of newer/ less experienced players but I still want to play fun and unique decks to scratch my deck-building itch. I like identifying some underdog commanders like Kambal (new) before he became in vogue; Neva (recursion); Jan Jansen; Surrak Dragonclaw; Soul of Windgrace; and Anafenza Foremost. These commanders make me feel clever when finding fun but “fair” synergies, while not being too “must kill” every turn – Kambal is the closest. I have two requests for you: 1) What would you think about creating precons utilizing Commander 2011 legends? For us older players who want to play the older cards in a modern Era (no pun intended). 2) Would you be willing to create a “control” precon using some combination of UW(x) and counter spells (to whatever extent you’d think was appropriate? Mine keep coming up too harsh. Thank you! I love your content!
I think it depends on the table and decks used. During Commander Launch Party two players used decks with Planechase and Vrodniss (Draconic Rage) of mine became a weird token defense mode and just created tokens until a certain card kicked in which allowed me to put X dragons into the battlefield where X is dragons already in battlefield, since Plabechase is dice rolling and Vrodriss is triggered every single time the dice is rolled. ETB triggers from the dragons alone killed two players. The third player got killed in Combat due to 20+ dragons in the field.
I actually think the Caesar deck is very strong alongside this. While house Doesn’t fit in with the deck (which is why I’m upgrading the deck into a house deck) Caesar can get online so quickly, he only needs 2-3 turns and he’s already making tokens and providing card draw. I do wish Caesar’s third option was dealing damage equal to tokens to ANY target, not just players. Would be crazy removal, tokens and cards in one!
I had Commander night today. One friend got Mishras Burnished Banner + Gonti’s Aether Heart, and I had a HIGHLY modified Gisa and Geralf zombie deck, almost unrecognizable from it’s original as the Grave Danger precon Our poor, poor other friend at the table. He used an entirely unmodified precon with Chishiro the Shattered Blade He had a creature card that put his entire hand in his graveyard and just had no graveyard interaction There were so many weird unsynergistic cards like that It was basically a 1v1 with the Chishiro player sitting in the corner twiddling his thumbs
Well, thanks for the article. Managed to pick up my eldrazi unbound deck for 80 on Amazon 5 hours after your article was released. Sold out less than an hour after that. Just checked tcgplayer, and because of their sale, the cheapest price is $140. THANK YOU PS. Did you see the colorless trigger doubler/copy enchantment? WOWZA
Other decks that could have made this list include the secret lair coin flip deck which is challenging to find more than 5 cards to cut when upgrading. Though the randomness of loosing coin flips does hold it back The frodo and Sam deck which includes so many synergies and ways to end the game. Out of the box, the deck had beat some of my 100 dollar budget decks I’ve made I’ve also seen the fallout mothman deck become archenemy and still end games before turn 10 with it pumping itself with +1/1 counters and its built in evasion… though it may struggle against a graveyard strategy
Strongest imo is the Black Green Elf deck from Kadhelm, it attacks, it ramps, it draws, it removes and very much on them. Only issue I have with the Eldrazi deck in general is it comes with Myrid Landscape and you can’t search for 2 Wastes with it. You can get 1 but that’s it, unless they plan on changing the rules come MH3 as Wastes are a basic land, but not a basic land type as Landscape cares about.
The Ixhel / Corrupting Influence precon is very strong too! It’s the deck I’ve had more consistent wins against home brewed decks that cost much more than it and I’ve only replaced maybe 3/4 cards. The Mind Flayaaars precon is the one I bought when getting back into MTG last year and it’s also quite strong out of the box. I’ve altered it quite a bit by now with 10-15 cards or so being swapped out for faster and more aggressive mill as well as upping the mana base to 35 since it’s p high cost to cast stuff. I seem to pick the decks with mechanics that make me enemy #1 at the take but that’s okay 😅 I enjoy them! Mothman is also quite good despite just getting it and only playing it a few times. But if I aim to win against expensive decks with experienced players, Ixhel is my go-to!
I think a precondition that deserves to be in the top 5 is Cavalry Charge from march of the machines. I have played against this recon many times and it is a house! built in card advantage and a way to put card in your graveyard with eminence and then the ability to bring those creature back in combat both on the commander is insane! The deck naturally synergies with tons of knights and just so much value! For me it is absolutely one of the 5 most powerful recons. I am curious where it ranked for TCC
I don’t know about Eldrazi Unbound being so powerful. It was just so ridiculously expensive and the entire deck costs 6 mana, not 7. I also think that one of the Dinosaurs, Merfolk, or Vampire precons from LCI should have made the list, as well as Planar Portal (prosper) from AFR and Exit from exile (Faldorn) from CLB. Cavalry charge from MOM is also really powerful.
The old ones were better as a box of “cards for commander”, rather than a cohesive deck. I don’t regret buying any of the old ones because of the number of EDH staples I got as a result. Not just the big expensive cards like Atraxa or Dockside Extortionist, but a plentiful supply of sol rings, boots and greaves, and other low cost staples you want a few of lying around. The new ones are more cohesive, better put together decks, and they introduce cards that are good, but for much narrower applications (because the decks are more focused), with fewer new format staples emerging. I think it makes sense for a product aimed at onboarding new players. The old ones were nice for collecting and building a collection. The new ones are better for actually playing with out of the box. Newer players aren’t buying them to immediately scrap for parts.
I have the Necron deck and tweaked it to use Trazyn as commander and put cards like The One Oing, Empowered Autogenerator and some untappers in with some graveyard tutors and it gets insane. I want the Eldrazi unbound deck but its going for like $100 so I went ahead and preordered the MH3 Eldrazi deck to check it out.
the Necron Warhammer 40K precon is really strong, I feel the other 40K precons are really strong too, I own the Imperium one myself and I might buy the necron precon you made on this website, since buying the precon itself costs a pretty penny. I bought the sliver precon instead of Eldrazi since I don’t particularly appreciate playing massive creatures only.
Just switching Imotekh the storm lord for the silent king really increases the power. With some pretty affordable upgrades and maybe a few $20 to $30 cards it really becomes fun and strong. Easily the kind of deck you put an extra $100 into and have a deck that can stand up to decks that cost 4x that.
I’m honestly astonished to see the Necron deck on here. It was the first precon I bought when I got back into Magic. All because of how powerful some of the cards were. But I’ve never won a game with it. I’ve never seen anyone win a game with it. And I’ve never seen it “pop off” less than a handful of times and get absolutely bodied by some pretty low power precons. It feels like the main commander whiffs more than hits with its ability. A lot of the creatures can get kinda nasty but it feels like the deck has far too many moving parts to actually land a significant hit. I dunno! Maybe I’m missing something but I feel like Tyranids just walk all over it XD
Personally I think the alternate commanders for Party Time are much stronger. Burakos is probably generating 4 treasures per turn and is going to be protected, while Folk Hero is drawing you some cards because Burakos counts as each creature type in the party. Nalia still works wonders in the 99 though
Well I have 4 of 5, only missing Party Time, no wonder I become Archenemy when I sit down with my group. I knew they were good, but really didn’t think they were quite that strong. I even have 2 Urza’s one that I modified and one to keep unmodified. I have 4 of 5 of the 2013 commander decks and love to play Oloro (Eternal Bargain)
DAMN RIGHT PROF!!!!!! Two of my favorite Doctor Who episodes. I don’t think Christopher Eccleston gets enough love for his work on Doctor Who. I’ll be a David Tennant fan till I die, but those are definitely great episodes. Considering he’s basically the PTSD Doctor because of the time war, the look of joy across his face is kind of infectious. But yeah MAGIC THE GATHERING!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…. sorry :).
Surprised to see that Undead Unleashed, Mind Flayarrs, Explorers of the Deep, Velociramptor, Elven Empire, Riverteers Rampage, Plunder the graves, Riders of Rohan, Maestro’s Massacre, Food and Fellowship did not make it in. I was sure that at least one of them would. Great job and I still love the article. 😁💜👍.
While I do agree that mutant menace is a really powerful precon? The problem is, you can kind of blow it out of the water too easily. So, you have to have some good piloting skills to run it. But it will say that, the mana base was actually really good for this deck. I didn’t see that many tap lanes to remove?
I don’t think I would put any of the Doctor Who decks on this list even though I love the IP. I would, however, absolutely include Virtue and Valor as well as Raining Cats and Dogs with the stipulation you use Jetmir instead of the cover commander. I’ve played both of those at game night and they can hang with normal commander decks no problem
Highly disagree with some of the picks here, but I think that speaks to the power and general amazing value that the precons generally are. Grumblings here and there of course, but Precons have by far and away been both the consistently best and highest value products WOTC have been putting out and for good reason. Lots of home runs, which is amazing to see and great for the game.
Im new to magic only been to a few precon nights and i havent watched the article yet but from my experience Im guessing the eldrazi decks and slithers since every match ive played has had at least one person playing one of those and it just seems like by turn 5 the games over unless if people can team up to to take them out and even then they seem to win most of the time.
Some pretty surprising inclusions here for me. In a pure precon only environment, of the 5 only the Necron deck would make the list in my experience. I would think any of the 4 Ixalan precons would handily beat out the other four decks, with the Merfolk deck the star, and Riders of Rohan and Cavalry Charge would also run over them. Having said that, despite the execrable mana base, Edgar Markov and his legion of vampires still tops the charts for precons only. Both the Brothers War precons are excellent bases for upgrade but they just struggle for a wincon in their standard form, and the Eldrazi deck fires off maybe 10% of the time and fizzles the rest.
I wasn’t expecting the eldrazi deck to take the top. Maybe that’s because the commander masters decks just got such a bad rap, due to their price tag. When the first universes beyond decks came out (warhammer), I commented on how they were some of the best put together precons wotc had ever printed. I think that has continued with each of the new universes beyond
While all the precons discussed were certainly powerful, I think the Virtue and Valor precon from wilds of eldraine is even more powerful. I was routinely able to outramp, and create more and bigger creatures faster than my friend playing his significantly upgraded Eldrazi precon. Elivere is an insanely powerful and slept on commander.
Draconic Rage from Adventures in the Forgotten realms is proved to be one of the most successful precons among my playgroup. Somehow it yields so much damage so consistently, and the commander himself hits like a truck. In my experience it is much stronger than Party Time and Urza. Necrons and Timey Wimey are strong, but too susceptible to hate.
I think Nelly Impulsive accuser from Kharlov manor is very good in the sense that it is a very political deck and you basically win against any other precon deck with the prevention spells and can lock down the game really well with some fun feather combos aswell. Basically tldr you look weak early game and with nelly on the board opponents are discouraged to attack especially leaving mana floating. And late game u win the game easily with the amount of draw and Brash taunter combos finishing basically any other precon deck easily.
Idk. I’ve not played Eldrazi enough to dispute its place at #1, but the mermaid deck is easily #2. I’ve played it and I’ve played against it about 30x now and it’s easier and more consistent than the party deck. Better than the Dr. Who deck for sure. I would also posit that Mothman is borderline top 5 as well
Party time is meh, while CLB decks weren’t hits, they were more fun, among them however Exit from Exile (or however the Gruul deck is called) stands out. Deck also allows for easy upgrades, with various Adventure cards, Cascade cards, and evergrowing number of other exile effects. I do still feel like it falls behind Prosper deck ever so slightly, due to how resilient Prosper is thanks to treasure generation. Party time does allow for easy upgrades in variety of directions thanks to creature types, but is also hurt by being just Orzhov as well as lack of “Party matters” cards. It’s quite sensitive to boardwipes, without enough ways to protect, or come back. While it does have high value cards in the deck… most of those are powerful outside of the deck too, Black Market Connections, Grim Hireling, Mutavault, Skullclamp, Maskwood Nexus, Folk Hero. Sure they also help out here a lot, but they’re great targets for removal, and slow payoffs too, and Commander being such engine, makes it a lightning rod… again not enough options to protect the Commander. You have Mother of Runes, Selfless Spirit, Foxy and Unbreakable Formation. Only two graveyard recursion spells too. Deck further suffers from lack of flying creatures, so even if you get going, your deck is easily neutered if not your life points. And… even when the deck gets going, even when you have party… there’s nothing that impressive/scary in it. In fact… I’d even say that Ruthless Regiment has better chance of running away with the game than Party Time, especially when you consider upgrades.
I’m not a fan of cEDH but I do think it does one thing really well, which is avoid rule 0. And I really wish we had more “sub-formats” of EDH with more clearly defined game expectations. Pauper Commander does a very similar thing as well and while I do enjoy it, I find the restriction for Pauper to be a too choking for my tastes. It’s a shame that Commander has become so concentrated around rule 0 when it’s the biggest blocker of fun in a commander game.
Does Everybody Lives rank low on anyone else’s protection spell list? In my experience the protection spells are often used for protecting against a board wipe in a way that leaves your opponents boards gone and yours intact, but everybody lives will protect all their boards as well. I get that it stops them from winning if they are comboing off or have lethal on you despite blockers, but I at least experience a board wipe more than turns they are going off.
I’m surprised the strongest pre-con was left out. These are good pre-cons. I’ve played with each of them. However, Veloci-Ramp-Tor is at least 1 power level (I’d say 3) over each of those mentioned in the article. Discovering (being a better cascade) for all your dino including commander just puts it so far ahead on its own—not to mention all the specific great cards it includes.
A lot of the precons are remembered as extremely powerful because they can be made extremely powerful with a relatively small number of changes. I haven’t even switched out 10 cards in Riders of Rohan, yet it’s now extremely efficient. But the cards I switched out were not very good in the deck and dragged it down a lot.
Heyooo. I’m late to this scene, and I started out with a LotR dual starter deck.. I have been a bit dumb and gambled away some money on packs related to the same tales of middle earth theme.. I was wondering. Is it a waste to stay “locked in” with a theme like LotR? I was wondering about getting some commander deck at one point.. but I don’t know where to start. I know buying singles is probably the best way to target specific cards for specific functions.. But considering the LOTR starters seem very basic, it’s hard for a newb to even begin to understand what would work or not. Also.. cards tend to be a bit more expensive here then I see online because of import tax etc so I don’t know what would be considered ok and what is concerned like a moneygrab. Reason I didn’t buy a commander deck yet is because they are pretty expensive too, and being this new to the game.. I wouldn’t automatically know which deck has which gameplan. I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy some blue controll type stuff.. mostly based on my own annoyance with getting my stuff interupted and/or straight tossed out the window. For referance, a LOTR draft booster is $7,45.. a set booster is @9,35 here. and some example commander decks: Tales of middle earth “Elven Council” : $76, and “Murders, blame game”: $66
I recently bought Arcane Maelstrom and played against 3 other new ones (Revenant Recon 2024, Velociramptor 2023 epic name* and Fae Dominion. 2023), it felt like all my mana base was a mess, my cost on spells was at least 1 or 2 higher on everything and my ramp wasn’t even that good. My performance was decent, but i didn’t feel like it. I have other precons, like Corrupting Influences and Explorers of the deep and they feel nice to play, always you have something to do and your mana curve/fixing feels good enough! Did you have a similar experience with an older precon?
I’m surprised Timey Wimey was included. There are a lot of great cards for the deck that aren’t included, but I guess that’s the nature of precons. I’m just way more familiar with Timey Wimey than other prevons. It is what I started magic with. All the repeatable suspend cards are amazing with the Tenth Doctor though, and only one is included. There is an infinite combo with Zirda, the Dawnwaker, Basalt Monolith, The Tenth Doctor, and Arc Blade. It also works with the dino that makes flyers with haste when it loses a suspend counter. Even without Zirda and Basalt Monolith for infinite mana, Rousing Refrain can get you there under the right conditions, and Rotating Fireplace makes a ton of mana so that those repeatable cards on suspend could eventually be cast multiple times. There are two other cards, whose names elude me right now, but one makes you nearly unkillable for a turn, which can be cast every turn with enough mana, and one that bounces any permanent to the hand, so it’s a great repeatable removal option. I understand it would have been hard to include those since there were so many new cards in the Doctor Who precons, which I love because Doctor Who is my favorite tv show, but I can’t run a Tenth Doctor deck without those cards that go back on suspend after being cast
Hi everyone im completely new to this community and am looking at buying my first deck. i have a quick question and would love to get some feedback. i understand each of these decks work very well as each card in the deck synergizes with other cards in the same deck. however is it possible to buy 2 of these decks and take cards from each and combine them to make a more powerful deck. i am thinking of combining the necrons pack with the Eldrazi pack. would this be a good idea ?? sorry for the long question i really hope it made sense.
Tbh whilst im not as experienced as the prof i would have to disagree with zhulodok as i have it and when i tried it out i was either rinced before getting anywhere or just would never get the cheap mana artifacts needed to play in the games. To me it felt like the deck caused fear due to being colourless therefore making me the target long before i was even a threat. Tho that might have been only me
3:25 I built a party deck black-and-white FROM SCRATCH, and after I was done and looking to buy the cards, the precon had HALF (50 exactly which did include basics) of the cards at the time I wanted to run in it, so I bought it, second ever precon I ever bought, after 2014’s Mono Green. If you are building party, like, this deck just contains the vast majority of what you are looking for, I Shouldn’t be surprised this is on this list. Burakos + Folk Hero is my Commander. Party Leader 4 by Lithmus on Moxfield is where the list is currently if you felt so inclined.
Personally I find Masters of Evil better than Timey-Wimey but not by much tbf. But from my experience, Divine Convocation has given me the most consistant wins to the point that I had to stop using it. Convoke just takes off too fast and 5 attack haste, vig, flying commander makes you a threat instantly.
I think this just shows how forced universes beyond can be at times. 3/5 decks in this article are from universes beyond/other franchises which makes you feel like you’re missing out on the power level if you’re not interested in a specific IP. Right now it’s hard to make a commander deck without bumping into multiple universes beyond cards without which the deck is noticeably weaker than it could have been with them.
the urza deck is meh. the mishra deck is probably the 2nd best deck made following RIGHT behind hakbal and possibly tied with it. Honestly, I personally make the argument that if you take out the 8 clunky cards from Mishra and replace them with 8 good cards from the urza, its still essentially the precon as it still has the same symbols, borders, etc and is part of the same rotation of decks. the mishra deck as it sits is a huge problem at most tables and implements SO MANY mechanics that you can essentially control a game in a multitude of ways. the eldrazi deck is pretty good but consistency and variety lacks in comparison. hakbal is so dam fast and aggressive it would annihilate it.