Commander Series: List of All 83 Commander Precons

Every year, the most exciting products that Wizards releases are the Commander pre-constructed decks or Commander precons. These decks are designed specifically with Commander in mind, so they always make an impact on the format and keep Commander players on their toes. Wizards have been releasing these decks almost every year for the past nine years.

In recent years, they started releasing commander decks with almost every set release. This gives them an opportunity to develop themes and mechanics that appear in the main set more thoroughly for Commander without filling standard with too many made-for-commander cards.

As there are so many precons, I want to talk about each and every Commander deck that Wizards has released in paper. I will start with the most recent ones and make my way back in time. Let’s get started!

Lord of the Rings Commander Precons

Lord of the Rings is coming to Magic, and with it four Commander decks. Not much info is known about them yet, so we won’t list them here, but you can find LotR Commander decks here.

Commander 2023 / March of the Machine Precons

The big Commander release of 2023 comes with March of the Machine. Instead of just two, there will be five precons, so you’ll probably be able to find one that you like.

Since we don’t know everything about this precons currently, we won’t discuss them in a great detail in this article just yet. However, if you want more information, you can find March of the Machine Commander decks here.

Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander Precons

This is the first time Phyrexia gets Commander decks. There are two of them, and both look quite good.

Corrupting Influence

• Theme: Poison counters with a twist
• Colors: White, Black, Green
• Main Commander: Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa

Commander decks that rely on poison counters are frequently quite hated. If your main win condition is victory by poison, other players might quickly team up and beat you. That’s not very fun, so you should think twice before getting a poison themed precon.

Thankfully, this deck doesn’t go all-in on the poison strategy. You’ll be happy, if you get opponents to just three poison counters, and thus enabling your cards with corrupted mechanic. This might make your opponents like likely to pile up on you, and give you a bit more time to develop your game plan, which includes stealing your opponents’ cards.

Corrupting Influence is certainly a very original Commander precon, with some unique play patterns.

Iconic Cards

• Contaminant Grafter
• Glistening Sphere
• Norn’s Choirmaster
• Phyexian Swarmlord

Rebellion Rising

• Theme: Attacking with tokens
• Colors: White, Red
• Main Commander: Neyali Sun’s Vanguard

Boros commander decks are typically somewhat boring. They usually care about attacking or equipment. This one is somewhat similar, but it does come with an interesting twist. It cares about attacking tokens. While the deck feels perfectly Boros-y, that small change really makes the deck feel distinctly different from other Red-White precons.

This is a great pickup, if you like to play aggressive strategies with lots of token creatures.

Iconic Cards

• Clever Concealment
• Elspeth Tirel
• Flawless Maneuver
• Staff of the Storyteller

Starter Commander Decks

At the end of 2022, Wizards released Starter Commander decks for the first time. These decks are aimed for beginners. They don’t contain any new cards, all 100 cards in each deck are reprints. While there aren’t any big money cards in them, the decks are still good, and each of them contains various Commander staples. On top of that, these decks are cheaper than the regular ones. All of this makes them a great purchase if you want to slowly start building your Commander collection.

You can find more information about this deck in our Starter Commander Deck Guide.

First Flight

• Main Commander: Isperia, Supreme Judge
• Colors: White, Blue
• Theme: Flying, control

This deck has the most control elements of all Starter Commander decks. Besides, it also contains a ton of creatures with flying, and ways to take advantage of that. This is a great deck for beginners who want to control the game, without exposing their creatures in combat.

Grave Danger

• Main Commander: Gisa and Geralf
• Colors: Blue, Black
• Theme: Zombie tribal

Grave Danger is your traditional Zombie tribal Commander precon. Zombies are a very popular tribe in Magic, thanks to the many fun shenanigans they enable. They usually have ways to interact with your graveyard, or simply returning from it. This is also the case with this deck, which is really fun to play, and offers a lot of meaningful in-game decisions.

Chaos Incarnate

• Main Commander: Kardur, Doomscourge
• Colors: Black, Red
• Theme: Dealing damage, chaos

This deck is the most unfocused of the bunch. It has various cards that can be quite annoying for your opponents, either by dealing them damage, or by forcing them to attack. This Commander precon is great for players, who don’t care much about playing optimally, but just want to make a bunch of fun things happen in a game.

Draconic Destruction

• Main Commander: Atarka, World Render
• Colors: Red, Green
• Theme: Dragon tribal

This is another tribal deck. As the name suggests, Draconic Destruction focuses on big Dragons. They are a very popular tribe in MTG, and some older Dragon-focused precons can be quite pricey because of that. This one is still new, and doesn’t contain that many expensive reprints, so its price is lower.

It’s a great starting point for any new Commander player who likes big creatures.

Token Triumph

• Main Commander: Emmara, Soul of the Accord
• Colors: White, Green
• Theme: Creature tokens

Where the previous deck went big, this one goes wide instead. It can quickly make a bunch of small creature tokens, and use them to overwhelm your opponent. Of course, you can also use the tokens for other things, not just attacking, as this deck has a lot of different synergies.

The Brothers’ War Commander

Long-time fans of Magic might be familiar with the storyline from the Brothers’ War. As one of Magic’s oldest stories, references to it show up on plenty of cards. However, this set is the first time we get to see actual cards from such an iconic part of the Magic’s history.

The two decks are led by the brothers themselves: Urza and Mishra. They face off in combat, pitching their armies of machines against each other. These decks do a great job of capturing the feeling of those battles, especially when it comes to differentiating between the two armies.

Furthermore, these decks have another characteristic that sets them apart from previous commander decks. To pay homage to the classic Magic story, every card in these decks has a retro card frame. Some people are critical of this, since the decks don’t also have a modern frame variant. But those that are nostalgic for the old style are in love with how the new cards and reprints alike imitate the feeling of early Magic.

You can find more information about The Brothers’ War Commander decks here.

Urza’s Iron Alliance

• Main Commander: Urza, Chief Artificer
• Colors: White, Blue, Black
• Theme: ‘Go-wide’ artifacts

This deck tries to capture the feeling of Urza building a massive army of artifact creatures to defend against the onslaught of Mishra’s forces. Most of the creatures are artifact creatures, and others get more powerful the more artifacts you control. The deck has a couple powerful new cards, as well as some reasonable reprints to round everything out.

Iconic Cards

• Tawnos, Solemn Survivor
• Sanwell, Avenger Ace
• Wreck Hunter
• Wire Surgeons
• Kayla’s Music Box

Mishra’s Burnished Banner

Main Commander: Mishra, Eminent One
Colors: Blue, Black, Red
Theme: Artifacts

In contrast to the Urza deck, Mishra cares more about non-creature artifacts. He transforms them into killing machines, and throws them away when he finishes with them. The rest of the deck is prepared to generate value from sacrificing those artifacts, especially the B-commander: Ashnod the Uncaring.

Iconic Cards

• Ashnod the Uncaring
• Blast-Furnace Hellkite
• Farid, Enterprising Salvager
• Terisiare’s Devastation
• Smelting Vat

Warhammer 40k Commander

Universes Beyond introduces the first preconstructed Commander product that features all new art from a different intellectual property. The Warhammer 40k Commander decks are four of the most unique and powerful precons Wizards has ever released. They come in traditional and collector’s variants and feature dozens of characters from the tabletop war game.

You can find more information about Warhammer 40k Commander decks here.

The Ruinous Powers

• Main Commander: Abaddon the Despoiler
• Colors: Blue, Black, Red
• Theme: Cascade, Demon Tribal

There’s a lot going on in the Ruinous Powers deck. First and foremost, Abaddon indicates that there is a Cascade theme in the deck. This shows up on a handful of other cards, as well as some that care about the spells you cast from outside your hand. Other than that, the B-commander, Be’lakor, the Dark Master cares about Demons. There are a lot of Demons in the deck, including in red and blue. The support that this deck offers this tribe will likely make it playable beyond this precon.

Iconic Cards

• Be’lakor, the Dark Master
• Magnus the Red
• Lucius the Eternal
• Kharn, the Betrayer
• Mortarion, Daemon Primarch

Tyranid Swarm

• Main Commander: The Swarmlord
• Colors: Blue, Red, Green
• Theme: +1/+1 and other counters

This deck is one of the most powerful, as well as most compelling counters decks that Wizards has ever released. While The Swarmlord might be less powerful than Magus Lucea Kane as a leader for the deck, both are powerful threats and worthwhile to brew around. Also, the new Ravenous mechanic rewards you for investing five or more mana into your X-costs. This gives you more bang for your buck and makes sure you never run out of firepower.

Iconic Cards

• Magus Lucea Kane
• Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
• Deathleaper, Terror Weapon
• The Red Terror
• Old One Eye

Forces of the Imperium

• Main Commander: Inquisitor Greyfax
• Colors: White, Blue, Black
• Theme: Tokens

While the Forces of Imperium deck dips its toes in a couple of different strategies, the main one is definitely a “go wide” tokens strategy. In fact, a handful of cards from this deck have a new mechanic that I think is one of the best new multiplayer mechanics in a long time. That mechanic is Squad, and lets you pay two mana any number of times to make that many copies of the creature with Squad when it enters the battlefield. There is a Squad card that draws you more cards, one that is an anthem, one that destroys artifacts and enchantments, and so on.

Additionally, the B-commander for this deck might be the most powerful new commander in the whole set. Marneus Calgar synergizes with creature tokens, treasures, clues, food, and whatever other tokens you can find a way to make. Commander games often include tokens by accident, let alone when you build your deck specifically around generating them.

Iconic Cards

• Marneus Calgar
• Inquisitor Eisenhorn
• Commissar Severina Raine
• Belisaurius Cawl
• Neyam Shai Murad
• Celestine, the Living Saint

Necron Dynasties

• Main Commander: Szarekh, the Silent King
• Colors: Black
• Theme: Self-Mill, Artifacts

Szarekh, the Silent King is one of a half dozen commanders who could lead this deck. Not only that, but Szarekh is probably the least of them. The main through lines for them all are artifacts and graveyards. While other mono black artifact decks have existed in the past, this one seems to be one of the most interesting. The new cards are exciting, and some of them are even unique in the game. For example, Biotransference turns all of your creatures in all zones into artifacts.

Iconic Cards

• Illuminor Szeras
• Imotekh the Stormlord
• Anrakyr the Traveller
• Trazyn the Infinite

Dominaria United Commander

The return to Dominaria comes with two new Commander decks, each led by a planeswalker. Jared Carthalion is the face commander for Painbow, and Dihada, Binder of Wills for Legends’ Legacy. Each of these focus on a different element of the main set, which we go into below.

Painbow

• Main Commander: Jared Carthalion
• Colors: White, Blue, Black, Red, Green
• Theme: Domain and All Five Colors

It feels odd for the theme of the deck to be the color identity of the commander. After all, most color combinations have dramatically variable themes spread throughout their commanders. However, Jared Carthalion and the B-commander Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile both do a great job of rewarding you for playing as many colors as possible.

This brings an interesting twist to a color combination that so often devolves into ‘good stuff’ strategies with the best cards from every color. Now there is an incentive to play fewer staples and more obscure cards as long as they have WUBRG in their casting cost.

Iconic Cards

• Two-Headed Hellkite
• Primeval Spawn
• Iridian Maelstrom
• Unite the Coalition
• Mana Cannons

Legends’ Legacy

• Main Commander: Dihada, Binder of Wills
• Colors: White, Black, Red
• Theme: Legendary Spells

One of the best parts about this deck is how thoroughly Wizards committed to the theme. Every creature and most of the other non-creature permanents are all legendary. Sometimes the pre-built Commander decks can feel like they don’t follow the supposed main theme. This is not one of those decks, though. When they say Legends matter, they mean it.

Dihada also gives you a variable array of rewards for playing your legendary spells. Since Wizards is printing so many new legendary creatures, you are guaranteed to be able to find a legendary-focused theme that inspires you.

Iconic Cards

• Shanid, Sleepers’ Scourge
• The Reaver Cleaver
• Gerrard’s Hourglass Pendant
• Verrak, Warped Sengir

Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander

Battle for Baldur’s Gate or Commander Legends 2 was the second D&D themed Magic set. It brought us four two-colored decks with various themes. You can learn more about Baldur’s Gate Commander decks here.

Battle for Baldur’s Gate was not a Standard-legal premier set and therefore doesn’t have any Set Booster exclusive cards. That being said, the whole set is focused around the Commander format. There is no shortage of cards for you to put into your Commander decks from Battle for Baldur’s Gate.

Party Time

• Main Commander: Nalia de’Arnise
• Colors: White, Black
• Theme: Party

Wizards introduced a mechanic in Zendikar Rising called Party. It fit the theme of that set reasonably well, but most people expected it to reappear in the Dungeons and Dragons set coming out the next year. Theoretically, D&D would be an even better setting for a mechanic that incentivizes you to control a Wizard, Rogue, Cleric, and Warrior.

However, when Adventures in the Forgotten Realms came out, Party was nowhere to be seen. In the second D&D themed set, Wizards made up for that by printing a ton of new Party cards. This deck is focused on that very theme.

Iconic Cards

• Folk Hero
• Deep Gnome Terramancer
• Burakos, Party Leader
• Black Market Connections

Mind Flayarrrs

• Main Commander: Captain N’gathrod
• Colors: Blue, Black
• Theme: Horror Tribal, Mill

In the last couple of years, the Horrors tribe has gotten a lot of love. This deck is a great follow up to Ikoria and Umbris, Fear Manifest, potentially making Horrors a legitimately powerful tribe. This deck leans into a prevalent aspect of the Horror tribe: Mill. Not only that, there is a small subtheme of stealing your opponents’ creatures. Overall, if a player is a fan of these strategies, they will likely love this deck. If they don’t though, they might hate it.

Iconic Cards

• Zellix, Sanity Flayer
• Aboleth Spawn
• Grell Philosopher
• Brainstealer Dragon

Draconic Dissent

• Main Commander: Firkraag, Cunning Instigator
• Colors: Blue, Red
• Theme: Tribal Dragons, Goad

Draconic Dissent is Wizards’ third tribal Dragons deck. This one is a slightly different flavor as the other ones, leaning harder into the Goad mechanic. Truth be told, this deck feels more like a Goad deck than a tribal deck. In addition to these fan favorite themes, though, it’s nice to finally get a Dragons deck associated with a Dungeons and Dragons set.

Iconic Cards

• Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer
• Astral Dragon
• Bothersome Quasit
• Death Kiss

Exit From Exile

• Main Commander: Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald
• Colors: Red, Green
• Theme: Casting Spells From Exile

This deck combines a cacophony of unrelated mechanics together in a very synergistic way. You wouldn’t think it, but Faldorn does a great job of making it all work despite the seeming lack of cohesion.

Iconic Cards

• Durnan of the Yawning Portal
• Nalfeshnee
• Tlincalli Hunter
• Green Slime

Commander 2022 / New Capenna Commander

Streets of New Capenna brought with it yet another round of set-specific Commander decks. Technically, they are not associated with this year’s Commander product (despite being released at the appropriate time), but they are still full-powered decks. Each deck’s color identity is one of the three-color arc combinations.

One notable cycle that came with this set is five new Confluences, each in the appropriate combination. Each Confluence has three modes, and you can choose up to three. You are allowed to choose any mode more than once.

• Obscura Confluence
• Maestros Confluence
• Riveteers Confluence
• Cabaretti Confluence
• Brokers Confluence

Like all sets lately, this set also comes with a set of cards that are exclusive to Set Boosters. You can’t get them in Draft Boosters or Commander decks.

• Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
• Tenuous Truce
• Swindler’s Scheme
• Mari, the Killing Quill
• Spiteful Repossession
• Boxing Ring
• Vazi, Keen Negotiator
• Threefold Signal

Obscura Operation

• Main Commander: Kamiz, Obscura Oculus
• Colors: White, Blue, Black
• Theme: Connive

This deck is strange because it’s an Esper deck that cares about attacking. It’s filled to the brim with cheap evasive creatures to help ensure you connect with your opponents. The card advantage makes sure the deck plays out pretty smoothly, even without any upgrades. The backup commander is also pretty intriguing. It leans into voting mechanics that get the table talking with each other. Overall, this deck is a lot of fun.

Iconic Cards

• Tivit, Seller of Secrets
• Smuggler’s Share
• In Too Deep
• Lethal Scheme
• Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer

Maestros Massacre

• Main Commander: Anhelo, the Painter
• Colors: Blue, Black, Red
• Theme: Casualty

This deck seems to be pretty decent in paper. However, in practice, it plays out pretty poorly. The fact that you have to sacrifice a creature to trigger Casualty is a legitimate cost. Especially in a deck with very few token generators. That being said, the deck has the skeleton of a great spellslinger deck.

Iconic Cards

• Parnesse, the Subtle Brush
• Sinister Concierge
• Spellbinding Soprano
• Cryptic Pursuit
• Syrix, Carrier of the Flame

Riveteers Rampage

• Main Commander: Henzie “Toolbox” Torre
• Colors: Black, Red, Green
• Theme: Blitz

This deck is focused around the new set mechanic, Blitz. Blitz lets you cast a spell from your hand, give it haste, sacrifice it at the end of the turn, and then draw a card. It wants to cheat out a bunch of high mana value creatures and generate card advantage along the way.

The Beamtown Bullies, the backup commander for the deck, is one of the most exciting cards in the whole set. It fits elegantly in the 99 of a Henzie deck, but could also be a fantastic commander in its own right.

Iconic Cards

• The Beamtown Bullies
• Wave of Rats
• Turf War
• Rain of Riches
• Jolene, the Plunder Queen

Cabaretti Cacophony

• Main Commander: Kitt Kanto, Mayhem Diva
• Colors: White, Red, Green
• Theme: Tokens

This deck is pretty similar to a deck from a few years ago called. The idea is to go as wide as you can making tokens, then incentivize your opponents to fight each other along the way. Plus, there are plenty of Cats and Dogs for players who are fans of those tribes.

Iconic Cards

• Phabine, Boss’s Confidant
• Master of Ceremonies
• Life of the Party
• Killer Service

Bedecked Brokers

• Main Commander: Perrie, the Pulverizer
• Colors: White, Blue, Green
• Theme: Various counters

Bedecked Brokers is a unique take on a Voltron deck in Bant colors. Basically, rather than trying to stack as many +1/+1 counters on a creature as possible, Perrie rewards you for playing as many different kinds of counters as you can. That being said, you probably won’t be mad about having a large stack of +1/+1 counters either.

Iconic Cards

• Kros, Defense Contractor
• Resourceful Defense
• Shield Broker
• Damning Verdict

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Commander

Our first return to Kamigawa came with two really exciting new decks. It also came with a new suite of set booster exclusive Kamigawa Commander cards. Even though it’s awkward that you can only get them in Neon Dynasty Set boosters, it’s great that they have found a home for these cards that might have otherwise gone unprinted.

Anyway, here are the two decks:

Buckle Up

• Main Commander: Kotori, Pilot Prodigy
• Colors: White, Blue
• Theme: Vehicles

Buckle Up is our first Vehicles matter Commander deck. Ever since their introduction to the game in Kaladesh, players have tried to find a good Commander for Vehicles. Perhaps one of the cards in this deck will finally prove to be the best option.

In addition to a bunch of great new Vehicle cards, this deck also has a few much-requested powerful white cards. Despite being the worst financial value of any precon to date, this deck is still an exciting pickup for any Commander player,

Iconic Cards

• Shorikai, Genesis Engine
• Drumbellower
• Ironsoul Enforcer
• Cyberdrive Awakener
• Release to Memory

Upgrades Unleashed

• Main Commander: Chishiro, the Shattered Blade
• Colors: Red, Green
• Theme: Modify

This deck focuses on the new set mechanic for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty – Modified. Modified cares about if a Creature is equipped, enchanted, or has a counter on it. Since these are three very different strategies, this deck seems a little unfocused at first glance.

However, somehow the commander is able to tie everything together really cleanly. In addition to the new cards, this deck also includes a solid bunch of Commander-staple reprints.

Iconic Cards:

• Kaima, the Fractured Calm
• Kosei, Penitent Warlord
• Kami of Celebration
• Tanuki Transplanter
• Rampart Rejuvenator

Innistrad: Crimson Vow Commander

The second Innistrad set in 2021 also brought us two new Commander decks, both with tribal focus. This time, the tribes are Vampires and Spirits.

Just like Midnight Hunt and assumedly going forward, Crimson Vow had set booster exclusive cards that technically belong to the Commander set. Here is the list of those:

• Wedding Ring
• Umbris, Fear Manifest
• Hollowhenge Overlord
• Mirage Phalanx
• Breathkeeper Seraph
• Thundering Mightmare
• Doom Weaver
• Imperious Mindbreaker

Vampiric Bloodline

• Main Commander: Strefan, Maurer Progenitor
• Colors: Black, Red
• Theme: Vampire tribal, Blood tokens

We’ve had a tribal Vampire deck led by Edgar Markov. If you count the Madness deck, led by Anje Falkenrath in 2019, we actually have two. Those decks were probably more powerful, but this one adds a unique new flavor to the tribe. Vampiric Bloodlust wanted you to make a massive army of little Vampires and Merciless Rage wanted to focus on spells with Madness (of which many are Vampires).

Vampiric Bloodline, though, encourages you to play bigger Vampires thanks to Strefan’s Sneak Attack-esque ability. Despite its similarities to other precons we’ve seen in the past, this deck certainly had its own identity that made it fun.

Iconic Cards:

• Shadowgrange Archfiend
• Scion of Opulence
• Predator’s Hour
• Arterial Alchemy
• Imposing Grandeur

Spirit Squadron

• Main Commander: Millicent, Restless Revenant
• Colors: White, Blue
• Theme: Spirit tribal

This is certainly a fun deck to pick up, as it’s built around a less common creature type, with Spirits. It enables some cool play patterns, and it’s a great pickup for players who like to play decks that aren’t the most mainstream. We got a deck that is similar to Spirit Squadron in Kaldheim with Phantom Premonition. That deck, however, focused more on that set’s main mechanic, Foretell. This one really committed to the Spirits theme, encouraging you to go wide quickly. It also came with some important support cards for White, listed below:

Iconic Cards:

• Donal, Herald of Wings
• Storm of Souls
• Sudden Salvation
• Spectral Arcanist

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Commander

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt had two Commander decks, much like other recent premier sets. However, Midnight Hunt is the first Innistrad set with corresponding Commander precons. These two decks are also focused around popular tribes from Innistrad.

In addition to these two decks, Wizards released a handful of cards as a part of the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Commander set that cannot be opened in the pre-constructed decks. These cards can only be found in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt set boosters. This is a comprehensive list of the rest of the cards from this Commander set:

• Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor
• Avacyn’s Memorial
• Visions of Glory
• Visions of Dread
• Visions of Ruin
• Visions of Dominance
• Visions of Duplicity
• Curse of Obsession

You can find all current information about Midnight Hunt Commander decks here.

Undead Unleashed

• Main Commander: Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
• Colors: Blue, Black
• Theme: Zombie tribal

Fans of Zombies, rejoice! Undead Unleashed is a perfect precon for you. Wihelt is a powerful commander for a Zombie deck. The fact that it gives you access to not only black, but blue as well, is particularly nice. Furthermore, this deck includes tons of much-needed Zombie reprints, like Rooftop Storm, Endless Ranks of the Dead and Liliana, Death’s Majesty.

Iconic Cards:

• Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth
• Hordewing Skaab
• Ghoul’s Night Out
• Curse of the Restless Dead
• Curse of Unbinding

Coven Counters

• Main Commander: Leinore, Autumn Sovereign
• Colors: White, Green
• Theme: +1/+1 counters, Coven

Coven Counters precon is more focused on the +1/+1 counters than explicitly on the Human tribe. However, on Innistrad, green and white means Humans. Plus, Kyler, Sigardian Emissary is the b-commander for this deck, and he cares a lot more about Humans. So whether you like Selesnya +1/+1 counters, Humans, or the new Coven ability, this is a great deck for you.

Iconic Cards:

• Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant
• Wall of Mourning
• Moorland Rescuer
• Curse of Conformity
• Curse of Clinging Webs

Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Commander

2021’s Summer set was something new for Magic players. Not only did it cross over into a non-Magic intellectual property, but it also gave us four more Commander pre-constructed decks. These decks are fully-powered decks, more similar to the Commander 2021 product than Zendikar Commander.

Just like the previous two years’ decks, the cards, and themes are mechanically tied to the set they were released with. This means that each deck had a card or two from a cycle that rolled dice. Also, most of the new support cards had something to do with dice-rolling. In addition to dice, one of the decks had a major Venture into the Dungeon theme.

The other two decks did not necessarily have a set-specific mechanic, but were flavorful relative to the Dungeons and Dragons theme of the set. One used powerful weapons to min/max your character, while the other collected as much loot as you could carry in your pockets.

The D&D theme for these decks is very clear, which can be fun if you like that. Even if you don’t care for the theme, there are plenty of powerful cards and valuable reprints from this set, ensuring that there will be something for everyone.

Aura of Courage

• Main Commander: Galea, Kindler of Hope
• Colors: Green, White, Blue
• Theme: Auras, Equipment

At first blush, Aura of Courage doesn’t seem to be anything special. A few years before this deck was released, Wizards printed Adaptive Enchantment. These two decks both use Enchantments to build up one or two Creatures and pound your opponents with them. However, this commander goes about doing it slightly differently. Thanks to the fact that Galea lets you cast spells from the top of your library, you don’t have to build an Enchantress deck around her. Rather, you can focus on just pumping her up and protecting her.

Additionally, the fact that she can let you play Equipment is also important. Now you can have an Enchatress-esque equipment deck in Bant colors.

Iconic Cards:

• Robe of Stars
• Mantle of the Ancients
• Holy Avenger
• Catti-brie of Mithral Hall

Draconic Rage

• Main Commander: Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients
• Colors: Red, Green
• Theme: Dragons, Enrage

This deck does exactly what Gruul wants to do: make big Creatures and attack your opponents with them. It throws in the dice-rolling mechanic and Enrage for flavor, which adds a level of novelty that other red/green commanders might lack.

The backup commanders, Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient and Wulfgar of Icewind Dale, are also compelling. Similarly to Vrondiss, they both provide a unique way to play an archetype that players already enjoy.

Iconic Cards:

• Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient
• Wulfgar of Icewind Dale
• Klauth’s Will
• Druid of Purification

Dungeons of Death

• Main Commander: Sefris of the Hidden Ways
• Colors: White, Blue, Black
• Theme: Venture into the Dungeon

This deck focuses on the new mechanic from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. It is designed to let players explore through the new Dungeon cards, while also having room for a couple of other strategies. This is important because Dungeons have only ever had one set’s-worth of support.

There are plenty of cards from the main set that can buoy up this deck, but you might not find as many Dungeons cards as you would like. In that case, you can upgrade either Sefris of the Hidden Ways or Nihiloor to do something else as well.

Iconic Cards:

• Midnight Pathlighter
• Minn, Wily Illusionist
• Radiant Solar
• Rod of Absorption

Planar Portal

• Main Commander: Prosper, Tome-Bound
• Colors: Black, Red
• Theme: Playing cards from exile

This deck leans heavily into an ability that Wizards has been giving red for a while now. In the past, red had struggled in Commander due to its relative difficulty drawing cards. Wizards decided to start giving it more impulsive card draw, which exiles cards from your deck and lets you play them temporarily. This was incredibly helpful to the color, and has increased its power level in the format.

Planar Portal takes that idea and rewards you heavily for doing it as much as possible. Additionally, you can get the benefits from playing Cascade, Madness, Adventures, and any number of other mechanics from Magic’s history.

Iconic Cards:

• Share the Spoils
• Grim Hireling
• Hurl Through Hell
• Fevered Suspicion

Commander 2021 / Strixhaven Commander

Commander 2021, like the previous year’s decks, were tied to the release of the Spring Premier set. In this case, that set was Strixhaven, School of Mages. Each of the precons was inspired by one of the two-color factions from that set. These factions were colleges on Strixhaven, and each one had its own theme:

• Red—White students studied History and Archeology.
• White—Black students Poetry, Prose, Leadership, and Politics.
• Black—Green students learned about Biology, and how life and death are so intimately connected.
• Green—Blue students calculated every kind of Math equations.
• Blue—Red students expressed themselves with Music, Art, and Theater.

You can find Commander 2021 decklists here.

Lorehold Legacies

• Main Commander: Osgir, the Reconstructor
• Colors: Red, White
• Theme: Artifacts

This deck represents a monumental milestone in Commander for the red/white color pie. For three years previous, players have complained abundantly that Boros (now Lorehold) was the weakest color pair and needed more powerful support. After so many years, Wizards definitely delivered with this precon.

This deck aims to get oodles of value from sacrificing and reanimating artifacts. If you like artifact decks, I would definitely recommend giving this one a try, since it feels very powerful and unique.

Check out the Lorehold Legacies Upgrade Guide.

Iconic Cards:

• Archeomancer’s Map
• Monologue Tax
• Cursed Mirror

Silverquill Statement

• Main Commander: Breena, the Demagogue
• Colors: White, Black
• Theme: Multiplayer

For Silverquill, politics is king. The idea behind this deck is to trick your opponents into beating each other down, so you can swoop in for the kill. Like the Lorehold Legacies deck, there are a couple of cards in this precon that represent significant steps forward for white cards.

You can find the Silverquill Statement Upgrade Guide here.

Iconic Cards:

• Scholarship Sponsor
• Tempting Contract
• Keen Dualist
• Bold Plagiarist
• Inkshield

Witherbloom Witchcraft

• Main Commander: Willowdusk, Essence Seer
• Colors: Black, Green
• Theme: Life gain / life loss

True to the theme of this year’s product, the Witherbloom deck reimagines the skill suite of the black/green color combination. This deck focuses mainly on utilizing your life total as a resource. The commander, as well as several cards in the 99, reward you handsomely for spending a lot of life points and earning them all back. Plus, Gyome, Master Chef is a hilarious option for a food-themed deck.

For more info on that kind of thing, check out the Witherbloom Witchcraft Upgrade Guide.

Iconic Cards:

• Marshland Bloodcaster
• Veinwitch Coven
• Witch’s Clinic

Quantum Quandrix

• Main Commander: Adrix and Nev, Twincasters
• Colors: Green, Blue
• Theme: Tokens

Quantum Quandrix is an interesting deck that seems to only want to do one thing: make as many tokens as possible. This deck put a Parallel Lives in the command zone and let the players run wild with it. If you love Simic, but haven’t been able to make all of the tokens that you wanted to, look no farther. Because this is the deck for you.

Here’s the Quantum Quandrix Upgrade Guide if you are interested in buying this deck and improving it a bit.

Iconic Cards:

• Esix, Fractal Bloom
• Oversimplify
• Spawning Kraken

Prismari Performance

• Main Commander: Zaffai, Thunder Conductor
• Colors: Blue, Red
• Theme: Expensive instants & sorceries

The last deck for this year’s Commander product focuses on casting Instants and Sorceries. Not only that, but it wants to cast the biggest Instants and Sorceries that it can. I would recommend comparing this deck to the 2015 “Seize Control” deck led by Mizzix of the Izmagnus. They seem to want to do similar things.

Here’s the Prismari Performance Upgrade Guide if you are interested in reading up on it more.

Iconic Cards:

• Veyran, Voice of Duality
• Reinterpret
• Inspiring Refrain
• Rousing Refrain
• Surge to Victory

Kaldheim Commander Decks

Kaldheim brought us two new “lite” Commander decks. Both precons feature one of the themes from Kaldheim.

Phantom Premonition

• Main Commander: Ranar, the Ever-Watchful
• Colors: White, Blue
• Theme: Foretell

This deck highlights the newest mechanic from Kaldheim, foretell. In addition to that, Ranar’s abilities work well with abilities like those on Flickerwisp. The precon leans into some of those abilities as well. These round out a few great Foretell cards, as well as leaving room for players to improve upon some of these themes.

For tips on upgrading this deck, check out this upgrade guide.

Iconic Cards:

• Cosmic Intervention
• Stoic Farmer
• Brago, King Eternal
• Arcane Artisan

Elven Empire

• Main Commander: Lathril, Blade of the Elves
• Colors: Black, Green
• Theme: Elf Tribal

This deck is focused on one of the most popular tribes in Magic the Gathering – Elves. While, they are mostly green, Elves on Kaldheim are black too. This deck is certainly a fine pick-up for anyone who enjoys Elf tribal synergies.

Here is our upgrade guide for upgrading the Elven Empire commander deck.

Iconic Cards:

• Ruthless Winnower
• Pact of the Serpent
• Rhys the Exiled

Commander Legends Commander Decks

Commander Legends brought us not only a spectacular combination of Commander and Draft, but also two Commander precons. These are somewhat less powerful than your regular Commander precons, but also have a lower price.

Each deck contains just three new cards, and the rest are reprints.

Reap the Tides

• Main Commander: Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
• Colors: Green, Blue
• Theme: Lands Matter / Ramp

Aesi is Tatyova, Benthic Druid pumped to the max. The deck wants to do what Simic usually does – ramp and get value while doing so. It’s a great starting product for a brand-new Commander player, as it offers a pretty clear and safe way to improve it, while still containing some pretty strong cards.

Speaking of upgrades, you can find how to make the deck better in the Reap the Tides Upgrade Guide.

Iconic Cards

• Trench Behemoth
• Stumpsquall Hydra
• Avenger of Zendikar
• Ramunap Excavator

Arm for Battle

• Main Commander: Wyleth, Soul of Steel
• Colors: Red, White
• Theme: Equipment & Auras

The deck is built around equipments and auras. Whyleth is a pretty cool commander for this type of strategies, as it gives card advantage to red-white combination, which sometimes lacks it. It’s a great deck for anyone who likes to play Voltron – type strategies (making one creature gigantic).

You can find more about this deck in the Arm for Battle Upgrade Guide.

Iconic Cards

• Timely Ward
• Blazing Sunsteel
• Sram, Senior Edificer
• Sigarda’s Aid

Zendikar Rising Commander Decks

When Zendikar Rising was released in September 2020, Wizards first decided to replace the typical planeswalker decks with a special something for Commander players. The set came out with two more Commander precons. Similar to the planeswalker decks, though, these precons were significantly less powerful than a typical Commander precon.

Also, there were only three new cards printed in each one. Other than those three cards, each card in the deck was a reprint.

Land’s Wrath

• Main Commander: Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor
• Colors: Red, Green, White
• Theme: Lands Matter

Zendikar is a plane famous for caring about lands entering the battlefield. As a result, this Commander deck is all about Landfall.

For more information about this deck, you can read Land’s Wrath Upgrade Guide.

Iconic Cards

• Trove Warden
• Geode Rager
• Omnath, Locus of Rage

Sneak Attack

• Main Commander: Anowon, the Ruin Thief
• Colors: Blue, Black
• Theme: Tribal Rogues

Another main theme from the Zendikar Rising set was tribal Rogues. In the past, Rogues have had a few strong commanders, but Anowon, the Ruin Thief brings something new to the table.

Of course, Sneak Attack Upgrade Guide is also available for more information.

Iconic Cards

• Enigma Thief
• Whispersteel Dagger
• Oona, Queen of the Fae

Commander 2020 / Ikoria Commander

In this year, Wizards decided to tie all the Commander decks to the standard set that they were released with. This meant that all of these decks were mechanically similar to Ikoria, Lair of Behemoths. This innovation avoids the issues that Commander players have with parasitic mechanics like Energy. There are legendary creatures that can lead decks around all of the mechanics from Ikoria, and each new ability has enough support to craft a full deck around.

This was also the first product in four years that had five different decks with equal color representation among them.

Each deck has a face commander, a secondary commander that matches the color identity of the face commander, and a partner pair whose colors add up to the face commander’s color identity.

There is also a cycle of cards that can be cast for free if you control a commander, and a cycle of auras called the Impetuses. The Impetus cycle gives the enchanted creature a power/toughness boost and goads it. They have not yet proved to be very popular, so I will not be including them in the individual deck summaries.

Ruthless Regiment

• Main Commander: Jirina Kudro
• Colors: White, Black, Red
• Theme: Tribal Humans

Ruthless Regiment tries to make an army of little Humans and pump them up into a scary threat. There are also some aristocrats synergies, so you can sacrifice your Human army to finish your opponents off. Most notably, Verge Rangers is a new card in a series of white cards that Wizards has printed to increase the power level of white in Commander.

Iconic Cards

• Flawless Maneuver
• Verge Rangers
• Kelsien, the Plague
• Silvar, Devourer of the Free
• Trynn, Champion of Freedom

Arcane Maelstrom

• Main Commander: Kalamax, the Stormsire
• Colors: Green, Blue, Red
• Theme: Instants Matter

Admittedly, the Arcane Maelstrom deck does not have a lot to do with Ikoria mechanically. This deck specifically cares about casting instants. The commander, Kalamax, copies the first instant you cast each turn, which lets you maximize the value you get from each one.

Iconic Cards

• Xyris, the Writhing Storm
• Pako, Arcane Retriever
• Haldan, Avid Arcanist
• Deflecting Swat

Symbiotic Swarm

• Main Commander: Kathril, Aspect Warper
• Colors: White, Black, Green
• Theme: Counters Matter

Symbiotic Swarm is a deck that highlights a brand-new thing that appeared in Ikoria, Lair of Behemoths. Kathril, Aspect Warper, the commander for the deck, cares about creatures with keyword abilities so that they can give your creatures keyword ability counters.

This deck fills its graveyard with creatures that have a lot of keywords, then casts the commander to make a formidable threat.

Iconic Cards

• Tayam, Luminous Enigma
• Nikara, Lair Scavenger
• Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel
• Obscuring Haze
• Cartographer’s Hawk
• Netherborn Altar

Timeless Wisdom

• Main Commander: Gavi, Nest Warden
• Colors: Blue, Red, White
• Theme: Cycling

This deck finally provided Commander players with a legendary creature who is specifically meant to lead a cycling deck. It is full of utility cards that can be cycled away if you don’t need them right away. Then, once you have cycled into all the cards you require, finishers like Brallin and Shabraz, The Locust God, and Zenith Flare end the game.

Iconic Cards

• Akim, the Soaring Wind
• Brallin, Skyshark Rider
• Shabraz, the Skyshark
• Fierce Guardianship
• Dismantling Wave

Enhanced Evolution

• Main Commander: Otrimi, the Ever-Playful
• Colors: Black, Green, Blue
• Theme: Mutate

The Enhanced Evolution deck is perhaps the most unique of the decks from this year. The deck is designed around Ikoria’s new Mutate mechanic. Besides being a rules nightmare, this mechanic provides a very interesting foundation to build a Commander deck around.

You can either make one of your non-human creatures a massive threat, gaining incremental value with each new mutation, or enhance each of your creatures with one or two mutations each.

Iconic Cards

• Zaxara, the Exemplary
• Ukkima, Stalking Shadow
• Cazur, Ruthless Stalker
• Deadly Rollick
• Manascape Refractor

Commander 2019

More than once in Commander’s history, players have tried to build decks around keyword mechanics that just did not have enough support. Even though this problem could not be solved all at once, in 2019 Wizards printed decks that cared about (mostly) underrepresented mechanics from Magic’s history. Specifically, there were decks that cared about:

• Morph
• Flashback
• Populate
• Madness.

The only cycle present in these decks is that each face commander got a sort of signature spell. These spells had the commander’s name in them and were specifically related to the keyword mechanic for the appropriate deck.

Faceless Menace

• Main Commander: Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer
• Colors: Black, Green, Blue
• Theme: Morph

Before 2019, there were few if any Morph commanders. Animar, Soul of Elements was probably the most popular. With the release of Faceless Menace, however, Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer took the Morph throne.

The goal of this deck is simple: play as many free morphs as you can. Each one will let you draw cards. You can keep your opponents guessing about what the hidden abilities of the upside-down cards are. Then, when they least expect it, you flip the perfect spell to beat them.

Iconic Cards

• Volrath, the Shapestealer
• Rayami, First of the Fallen
• Grismold, the Dreadsower
• Mire in Misery
• Sudden Substitution
• Leadership Vacuum

Mystic Intellect

• Main Commander: Sevinne, the Chronoclasm
• Colors: Blue, Red, White
• Theme: Flashback

Flashback was probably the keyword mechanic that had the most support before getting its own deck in this year. Despite that, there had never been a commander that specifically cared about casting spells from the graveyard the way Sevinne does.

Because this deck was not built around an obscure mechanic like the other ones were, it might have been less interesting to players. What it lacked in flashiness, though, it made up for by containing Dockside Extortionist.

Iconic Cards

• Elsha of the Infinite
• Pramikon, Sky Rampart
• Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero
• Dockside Extortionist
• Sevinne’s Reclamation

Primal Genesis

• Main Commander: Ghired, Conclave Exile
• Colors: Red, Green, White
• Theme: Populate

Primal Genesis was an incredibly aggressive precon. The deck made a bunch of tokens in the early-game, and populated them in the mid- to late-game. Often times these tokens were 4/4 Rhinos or some other similar threat that quickly took over games.

Iconic Cards

• Marisi, Breaker of the Coil
• Atla Palani, Nest Tender
• Tahngarth, First Mate
• Ghired’s Belligerence
• Ohran Frostfang
• Song of the Worldsoul

Merciless Rage

• Main Commander: Anje Falkenrath
• Colors: Red, Black
• Theme: Madness

Anje Falkenrath, the face commander for this deck, was probably the most competitive individual commander to come out of this set (if not K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, who also showed up in this deck). The interesting thing about her, though, is that the optimized version of her deck was not too different from the precon version. You basically add more Madness cards and an infinite combo and ‘voila’ you have yourself a cEDH deck.

Merciless Rage wants to discard a ton of cards and get value from them. Whether you cast them for their Madness cost, reanimate them later on, or just draw you a card with Anje’s ability – this deck takes advantage of discarding cards better than maybe any other deck until this point.

Iconic Cards

• Chainer, Nightmare Adept
• Greven, Predator Captain
• K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• Bone Miser
• Anje’s Ravager

Commander 2018

Next up we have Commander 2018. Players were largely disappointed with the overall value of these Commander precons. Many said that the reprints were underwhelming, and the decks were not worth the extra $5 USD Wizards was charging for them. Despite these negative opinions, many cards from Commander 2018 went on to become widely used and beloved.

Three of the four decks from this year had a theme related to a permanent type. These were artifacts, lands, and enchantments. The fourth deck was a little different from the others. It cared about the top card of your library.

Each deck had a face commander (each one was a planeswalker again), two back-up commanders, and a third legendary creature that was not enough colors to lead the precon deck on its own.

There was also a cycle of signature spells for each face commander that had an effect related to the relevant permanent type (or top card of your library).

Finally, there was a cycle of cards that were related to the Storm mechanic. Each spell copied itself as many times as you had cast your commander in that game.

Exquisite Invention

• Main Commander:Saheeli, the Gifted
• Colors: Red, Blue
• Theme: Artifacts

At first glance, this deck does not seem very original. It is an Izzet deck that cares about artifacts. Not long before this deck was released, Dominaria was in Standard. In that set was a legendary creature named Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain who was also an Izzet commander who cared about artifacts, and a good one at that.

Upon further inspection, this Saheeli has her own twist on Izzet artifacts that is indeed unique. The goal for Exquisite Invention is to cast a bunch of cheap artifacts, then use them or Saheeli’s ability to ramp into a big artifact threat.

Iconic Cards

• Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer
• Tawnos, Urza’s Apprentice
• Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor
• Saheeli’s Directive
• Echo Storm
• Retrofitter Foundry
• Enchanter’s Bane

Nature’s Vengeance

• Main Commander: Lord Windgrace
• Colors: Black, Red, Green
• Theme: Lands

One of the many complaints that players raised this year, another common one, was that the “lands matter” deck did not have very many land synergies. This deck was probably the least related to the permanent type that it was supposed to care about. Hardly any of the creatures, especially the back-up commanders, had landfall effects or otherwise cared about lands.

That being said, after playing with the deck, there were many ways to interact with lands or landfall abilities that you might not expect at first glance. Most notably, Lord Windgrace‘s first two abilities are closely tied to lands and make the deck feel a lot more like a lands matter deck.

Iconic Cards

• Thantis, the Warweaver
• Gyrus, Waker of Corpses
• Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
• Fury Storm
• Windgrace’s Judgment
• Nesting Dragon

Adaptive Enchantment

• Main Commander: Estrid, the Masked
• Colors: Green, White, Blue
• Theme: Enchantments

In contrast, the enchantment deck (if not the artifact deck) was probably the most closely tied to its stated permanent type. The deck felt like a cohesive enchantress deck right out of the box. However, it also left plenty of room to upgrade into something more if you wanted to.

It was a toss up whether Estrid or Tuvasa were better commanders for this deck. Both have their advantages, and both have lead powerful enchatress decks since their release in this product.

Iconic Cards

• Kestia, the Cultivator
• Tuvasa the Sunlit
• Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle
• Empyrial Storm
• Genesis Storm
• Estrid’s Invocation

Subjective Reality

• Main Commander: Aminatou, the Fateshifter
• Colors: White, Blue, Black
• Theme: Top Card of your Library

Finally, for this year, we have the black sheep. Subjective Reality is the only deck from this generation that did not care about a permanent type. Rather, it tried to manipulate the top card in your deck, so you could always draw the right card.

Appropriately, this deck also runs almost all cards that were previously printed with Miracle. This is a keyword ability that allows you to cast the spell for cheaper if it is the first card you draw in a turn. Fortunately, this deck’s primary function is to help you choose exactly which card is the best to draw first on any given turn.

The last great thing I want to say about this deck is that all three of the legendary creatures that were not the face commander were groundbreaking cards. Yennett was the first commander who wanted you to restrict the converted mana cost of everything in your deck. Varina was the first tribal Zombie commander in Esper colors. Yuriko was the first Ninja commander. Each one made a splash in the Commander format.

Iconic Cards

• Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign
• Varina, Lich Queen
• Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
• Aminatou’s Augury
• Entreat the Dead
• Skull Storm

Commander 2017

2017 was a year that Wizards of the Coast tried a few new things with the Commander precons. First, instead of the typical 5 decks with equally dispersed colors, there were only four decks, and the colors were not equally balanced. Second, the theme for this year was tribal.

They decided to give a boost to a few tribes with plenty of support, and one that had hardly any. Commander decks had had tribal subthemes in the past, but this year they were going all out with it. The four tribes they decided to go with were Vampires, Dragons, Wizards, and Cats.

Each of the face commanders for this set had an ability called Eminence. This was an ability that could trigger if the creature was in the command zone or on the battlefield. A similar ability had been seen on a commander in a previous year. It was infamous among many play groups. Almost all the commanders from this year’s group of decks managed to become well-loved by players, in spite of their initial wariness about Eminence.

This set features a cycle of cards with kindred in their name. Each one asks you to name a creature type and gives you a benefit for having those creatures.

Another cycle I want to mention briefly is a cycle of curses featuring the same character in their art. They are:

• Curse of Opulence
• Curse of Verbosity
• Curse of Bounty
• Curse of Disturbance
• Curse of Vitality

Lastly, each deck came with a new land that synergizes with tribal themes. It’s called Path of Ancestry.

Draconic Domination

• Main Commander: The Ur-Dragon
• Colors: White, Blue, Black, Red, Green
• Theme: Tribal Dragons

This deck is pretty straightforward. Using The Ur-Dragon‘s ability as well as some other cost-reducing effects from the deck, you cast as many dragons as you can as fast as possible. It is a surprisingly effective strategy, as anyone who has ever faced off against Draconic Domination would no doubt admit.

Iconic Cards

• O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami
• Ramos, Dragon Engine
• Taigam, Ojutai Master
• Wasitora, Nekoru Queen
• Territorial Hellkite
• Fractured Identity
• Herald’s Horn
• Kindred Discovery

Feline Ferocity

• Main Commander: Arahbo, Roar of the World
• Colors: Green, White
• Theme: Tribal Cats

This deck was the surprise of the set. Cats had just barely become a reasonable tribe in Amonkhet block, and many people were afraid that there would not be enough support to build a full Commander deck out of.

These fears turned out to be in vain, though, as Feline Ferocity packed a punch. Since the release of this deck, dozens of viable cats have been printed, making this deck one of the most beloved from this year.

Iconic Cards

• Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
• Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
• Hammer of Nazahn
• Balan, Wandering Knight
• Hungry Lynx
• Traverse the Outlands
• Kindred Summons
• Bloodforged Battle-Axe

Vampiric Bloodlust

• Main Commander: Edgar Markov
• Colors: Red, White, Black
• Theme: Tribal Vampires

Just before this set was printed, Ixalan block was being played in Standard. That set featured white vampires pretty heavily. There were a few Ixalan legends that could be your commanders, but it wasn’t until this Commander deck came out that people could really run their vampire tribal decks. And Edgar Markov has been the best Vampire commander ever since.

His eminence ability is able to make a ton of vampire tokens very quickly. These overwhelm his opponents unless they are able to do deal with the board every single turn.

Iconic Cards

• Licia, Sanguine Tribune
• Mathas, Fiend Seeker
• Teferi’s Protection
• Patron of the Vein
• New Blood
• Disrupt Decorum
• Kindred Charge
• Kindred Boon

Arcane Wizardry

• Main Commander: Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
• Colors: Blue, Black, Red
• Theme: Tribal Wizards

Arcane Wizardry is a creature-based control deck that tries to get extra value from Inalla’s eminence ability. Most of the Wizards in this deck have enter-the-battlefield triggers, so when they enter, Inalla can copy them and double up their triggers.

Iconic Cards

• Kess, Dissident Mage
• Mairsil, the Pretender
• Magus of the Mind
• Galecaster Colossus
• Bloodline Necromancer
• Kindred Dominance

Commander 2016

If you only read about a single year of Commander decks, this is definitely that year. 2016’s Commander precons changed the format in a way that no other year had until that point or would in coming years so far. Not only did it introduce the first ever four-color commanders, it also was the first time we ever saw the Partner mechanic. Both things would shape the face of the Commander format for years to come.

Each deck came with 3 partner commanders. Of the fifteen commanders, ten of them were enemy colored (two per color combination) and five were allied colored (one per color combination).

In addition to that, there was a cycle of instants or sorceries that were allied colored that came with basic land cycling for 2 colorless mana. These were necessary at the time to make the 4-color mana bases work. In addition to those cards, each deck had a brand-new land called Ash Barrens, which helped fix your colors in a bind.

The last new thing from this year was the Undaunted mechanic. This mechanic let you cast the spell for 1 less generic mana for each opponent you had. There were a few interesting cards with this mechanic in the set.

Entropic Uprising

• Main Commander: Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
• Colors: Blue, Black, Red, Green
• Theme: Chaos

This deck is supposed to be a chaos deck. Cascade, the commander’s flagship mechanic, gives you the next card in your deck that costs less than the card you just cast, so the random nature of it is pretty chaotic.

Iconic Cards

• Thrasios, Triton Hero
• Vial Smasher the Fierce
• Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix
• Grave Upheaval
• Treacherous Terrain
• Ancient Excavation
• Curtains’ Call
• Boompile
• Cruel Entertainment

Open Hostility

• Main Commander: Saskia the Unyielding
• Colors: Black, Red, Green, White
• Theme: Aggression

Open Hostility comes out swinging with cheap creatures that can grow to enormous sizes. Then, Saskia lets you double up on the amount of damage you’re doing by focusing your efforts on one player.

Iconic Cards

• Ravos, Soultender
• Tana, the Bloodsower
• Tymna the Weaver
• Stonehoof Chieftain
• Grave Upheaval
• Treacherous Terrain
• Sylvan Reclamation
• Divergent Transformations

Stalwart Unity

• Main Commander: Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis
• Colors: Red, Green, White, Blue
• Theme: Group Hug

This was the first pre-constructed Commander deck to officially employ group hug as its game plan. It uses many cards from previous years’ decks, including Tempt with Discovery, cards with Join Forces, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Zedruu the Greathearted, Selvala, Explorer Returned. It also uses many more cards to make allies with your opponents until you can hopefully be the last one standing.

Iconic Cards

• Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist
• Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
• Kraum, Ludevic’s Opus
• Realm Seekers
• Migratory Route
• Treacherous Terrain
• Sylvan Reclamation
• Seeds of Renewal

Breed Lethality

• Main Commander: Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice
• Colors: Green, White, Blue, Black
• Theme: +1/+1 Counters

Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice was the most hyped commander I have ever seen in all my years playing Commander. Being so many colors and having Proliferate on her card made her the best commander for dozens of strategies. This deck, however, focused mostly on +1/+1 counters.

Iconic Cards

• Reyhan, Last of the Abzan
• Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
• Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper
• Deepglow Skate
• Migratory Route
• Ancient Excavation
• Sylvan Reclamation
• Sublime Exhalation
• Grip of Phyresis

Invent Superiority

• Main Commander: Breya, Etherium Shaper
• Colors: White, Black, Blue, Red
• Theme:

Invent Superiority is the deck that most accurately captures the flavor of the color combinations. This deck has all colors except green, and green is the color that most hates artifacts. As a result, this deck is the artifact deck.

Iconic Cards

• Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder
• Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
• Akiri, Line-Slinger
• Magus of the Will
• Faerie Artisans
• Migratory Route
• Grave Upheaval
• Ancient Excavation
• Coastal Breach
• Curse of Vengeance
• Armory Automaton

Commander 2015

The decks from this year all featured an innovative new mechanic. Each face commander is equipped with an ability that gives the player experience counters. Then, those same commanders can utilize those experience counters in a unique way.

Experience counters were not the only new mechanic for this set, though. Each deck had two creatures that were part of a cycle. Each of those creatures had a mechanic called Myriad. Those creatures were:

• Herald of the Host
• Banshee of the Dread Choir
• Broodbirth Viper
• Warchief Giant
• Caller of the Pack

There were a few other cycles in these decks as well. One of these was the confluence cycle. Each confluence had three different modes that you could choose from. Of those three modes, you could choose one three times or up to three one time.

There is one individual card that I want to mention in this introductory section. Each deck contained a copy of Thought Vessel, which went on to become a Commander staple. Since there was one in every deck, I thought I would mention it here rather than in each deck summary.

Call the Spirits

• Main Commander: Daxos the Returned
• Colors: White, Black
• Theme: Enchantments

This deck combined two themes in a clever way. Daxos, a character who at the time was trapped in the underworld of Theros, lets you make spirits based on the number of experience counters you have, but you get experience counters by playing enchantments. This means that the deck wants to play as many enchantments as possible.

There were not very many enchantress decks in Orzhov colors before this, so this deck opened up some cool possibilities when it was printed.

Iconic Cards

• Karlov of the Ghost Council
• Bastion Protector
• Thief of Blood
• Righteous Confluence
• Grasp of Fate

Seize Control

• Main Commander: Mizzix of the Izmagnus
• Colors: Blue, Red
• Theme: Instants and Sorceries

The commander for this deck, Mizzix of the Izmagnus, makes your instants and sorceries cheaper based on the number of experience counters you have. You can get experience counters by casting instants and sorceries, but they have to have a higher converted mana cost than the number of experience counters you have.

As you might have guessed, this highly synergistic commander wants to cast as many instants and sorceries as it can. The bigger, the better.

Iconic Cards

• Arjun, the Shifting Flame
• Mizzix’s Mastery
• Mystic Confluence
• Aethersnatch

Plunder the Graves

• Main Commander: Meren of Clan Nel Toth
• Colors: Black, Green
• Theme: Graveyard Recursion

Maren was the most popular commander to come from Commander 2015 by a long shot. Her ability gives you experience counters whenever one of your creatures dies. At the end of your turn, if there is a creature in your graveyard with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of experience counters you have, you can bring it back to the battlefield. Otherwise, it goes back to your hand.

This deck tries to fill up its own graveyard, get advantage from sacrificing creatures, and reanimate some nasty threats.

Iconic Cards

• Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest
• Scourge of Nel Toth
• Wretched Confluence

Wade Into Battle

• Main Commander: Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas
• Colors: Red, White
• Theme: Creatures with CMC 5 or Greater

This deck was probably the least popular of the decks from this year, but it was packed with good stuff. Wade Into Battle was not officially a giant tribal deck, but it sure had a lot of giants in it. From Sun Titan and Inferno Titan to Sunrise Sovereign and Borderland Behemoth, this deck has almost all the giants you could ever dream of.

Technically, Kalemne cares about any creature with converted mana cost 5 or greater. Whenever you cast such a creature, you get an experience counter. Each experience counter you collect would then give Kalemne +1/+1. Between the giant threats (pun intended) and Kalemne having double strike and vigilance, this deck could get out of control quickly.

Iconic Cards

• Anya, Merciless Angel
• Magus of the Wheel
• Kalemne’s Captain
• Fiery Confluence
• Blade of Selves

Swell the Host

• Main Commander: Ezuri, Claw of Progress
• Colors: Green, Blue
• Theme: +1/+1 Counters

Although this deck is not exactly a tribal elves deck, Ezuri, Claw of Progress works in a similar way.

Step one: play a lot of little creatures. Ezuri’s ability give you an experience counter whenever you play a creature with power 2 or less. Step two: Make those small creatures gigantic.

Ezuri’s second ability gives one creature +1/+1 counters equal to the number of experience counters you have, making massive threats in the blink of an eye.

Iconic Cards

• Kaseto, Orochi Archmage
• Verdant Confluence
• Ezuri’s Predation
• Arachnogenesis
• Command Beacon

Commander 2014

The 2014 Commander precons mark the third year that Wizards of the Coast released pre-constructed decks for Commander. Having exhausted all possible three-color combinations in the previous two products, Wizards decided to get creative with this year’s decks. Each deck was only a single color and each commander was a planeswalker with the text “This card can be your commander”.

Not only was it exciting to be able to play with planeswalkers as commanders, but most of the planeswalkers were also famous characters from Magic’s past. I’ll go into each one more in depth.

Each deck also featured a card with a new mechanic: Lieutenant. Any card with this mechanic got some sort of additional bonus if it shared the battlefield with your commander.

There is also a cycle of cards with the word “offering” in their title. Each card in this cycle lets the caster choose an opponent to share in an effect with two separate times. You will see what I mean when you find these cards in the ‘Iconic Cards’ section of each deck.

Forged in Stone

• Main Commander: Nahiri, the Lithomancer
• Colors: White
• Theme: Equipment

Known before this set as “The Lithomancer”, Commander 2014 was the first time that Nahiri got a card. She was among the most exciting new legends to be printed in this set.

Aside from the hype around Nahiri, this deck did not perform too well straight out of the box. It struggled with many of the weaknesses that still plague white to this day. The equipment that it ran as it’s primary win condition were expensive and fairly low-impact by themselves. That being said, this deck has the ability to get very scary if not dealt with.

Iconic Cards

• Jazal Goldmane
• Containment Priest
• Angelic Field Marshal
• Benevolent Offering
• Comeuppance
• Assault Suit

Peer Through Time

• Main Commander: Teferi, Temporal Archmage
• Colors: Blue
• Theme: Sea Monsters

The overall theme for this deck is difficult to pin down. When you think of mono-blue decks in Commander, sea monsters are not the first things to come to mind. Furthermore, when you think of Teferi, you might think of counterspells and control magic. Although this deck runs a relatively low number of both of these things, they are not the theme of the deck.

It seems what this deck wants to do the most is ramp into one of its twelve 6+ mana creatures to beat down your opponents with.

Iconic Cards

• Stitcher Geralf
• Stormsurge Kraken
• Reef Worm
• Domineering Will
• Intellectual Offering

Sworn to Darkness

• Main Commander: Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
• Colors: Black
• Theme: Demons

This deck tells the origin story of the famous Magic villain, Ob Nixilis. Before the Chain Veil turned him into a demon himself, he summoned armies of them to fight his foes. Sworn to Darkness wanted to make an army of infernals to unleash upon its foes.

Iconic Cards

• Ghoulcaller Gisa
• Demon of Wailing Agonies
• Infernal Offering
• Raving Dead
• Necromantic Selection
• Spoils of Blood

Built from Scratch

• Main Commander: Daretti, Scrap Savant
• Colors: Red
• Theme: Artifact Recursion

Daretti is the only commander from this year’s precons who didn’t have much as far as previous backstory. Despite this, he has become a popular character and the most common mono-red artifacts commander. This deck tries to ramp into big artifacts and get advantage from sacrificing them.

Iconic Cards

• Feldon of the Third Path
• Tyrant’s Familiar
• Scrap Mastery
• Incite Rebellion
• Volcanic Offering

Guided by Nature

• Main Commander: Freyalise, Llanowar’s Fury
• Colors: Green
• Theme: Elves

Guided by Nature was probably the most cohesive tribal Commander deck that Wizards had printed until this point. The deck had 37 creatures, most of which were elves. Freyalise wants to fill the battlefield with as many elves as she can, then use the tons of mana they can generate to cast a big overrun spell.

Iconic Cards

• Titania, Protector of Argoth
• Thunderfoot Baloth
• Sylvan Offering
• Wave of Vitriol
• Song of the Dryads

Commander 2013

The decks from Commander 2013 were led by shard-colored Commanders. In addition to the face Commanders, each deck had two other legendary creatures that could double as a Commander for the deck. Each of the face Commanders cared somehow about the command zone. None of the decks are too focused, leaving a lot of room for improvement.

Notable cycles from this year include 5 new curses and 5 new cards called the “Tempt Cycle”. The curses did not end up being too interesting, but most of the tempt cards will be mentioned in the breakdown of the individual decks below.

Evasive Maneuvers

• Main Commander: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
• Colors: Green, White, Blue
• Theme: Evasion

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician has become one of the infamous Commanders from this set. Her ability that cares about the command zone is an activated ability that puts her straight into the battlefield. This can be done at instant speed and dodges command tax. Because of this, she almost always heads a stax deck that no one likes playing against.

This precon, however, is not such a deck. It is filled with flying creatures and light control. It tries to win with a small army of creatures that cannot be blocked.

Iconic Cards

• Roon of the Hidden Realm
• Bane of Progress
• Tempt with Glory
• Darksteel Mutation

Eternal Bargain

• Main Commander: Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
• Colors: White, Blue, Black
• Theme: Life Gain

Oloro is another infamous commander from 2013 Commander precons. He was the grandfather of the C17 tribal Commanders with the Eminence mechanic. Oloro’s ability gain’s his controller two life every turn on their upkeep as long as Oloro is in the command zone or battlefield. Because of this, he almost always leads a life gain deck.

This precon was no exception, except that it also had an artifact subtheme.

Iconic Cards

• Sydri, Galvanic Genius
• Order of Succession
• Tempt with Immortality
• Toxic Deluge
• Act of Authority

Mind Seize

• Main Commander: Jeleva, Nephalia’s Scourge
• Colors: Blue, Black, Red
• Theme: Instants and Sorceries

The Mind Seize precon is full of high costed instant and sorcery spells, since the Commander can cast them for free. Jeleva’s ability that cares about the command zone counts the amount of mana that was spent to cast it. This is an interesting ability, since that number goes up each time the Commander is cast. A similar ability shows up in the next deck.

The most popular Commander from this deck was actually one of the secondary commanders, Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Outside of Commander, True-Name Nemesis also made waves, becoming a staple in the Legacy format.

Iconic Cards

• Nekusar, the Mindrazer
• True-Name Nemesis
• Tempt with Reflections
• Illusionist’s Gambit

Power Hungry

• Main Commander: Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
• Colors: Black, Red, Green
• Theme: Sacrifice

This deck’s Commander has probably become the most popular (or unpopular, depending on what side of the table you are from him) of all the decks in this year’s precons. Prossh, Skyraider of Kher has been beloved by casual and competative players alike.

Similar to Jeleva, when Prossh’s controler casts it, that player gets a benefit that increases each time they do. They make Kobold tokens equal to the amount of mana spent to cast it. This deck wants to make a bunch of tokens, sacrifice them for value, and reanimate some creatures.

Iconic Cards

• Shattergang Brothers
• Ophiomancer
• Fell Shepherd
• Tempt with Vengeance
• Primal Vigor

Nature of the Beast

• Main Commander: Marath, Will of the Wild
• Colors: Red, Green, White
• Theme: Beasts

This deck is a Naya beasts deck. Unfortunately, it was not equipped with very many payoffs for playing beasts. This, however, did not harm the deck’s flavor. Nature of the Beast could unleash a feral herd upon its foes.

The commander for this deck, Marath, Will of the Wild, has an ability that gives it more power the more mana you spend to cast it. This amount grows with each new cast of Marath from the command zone. You can then use that power to your advantage with Marath’s second ability.

Iconic Cards

• Gahiji, Honored One
• Magus of the Arena
• Tempt with Discovery
• Mystic Barrier
• Spawning Grounds
• Witch Hunt

Commander – First Commander Precons

This set of precons was Wizards’ first attempt at a Commander product. Each deck was wedge colored, had two new Commanders in the appropriate wedges, one reprinted Commander in those colors, and a new Commander that is only two colors.

One of the first mechanics that were designed for Commander debuted in this product. It was Join Forces, and showed up on one card in every deck. These decks also feature a cycle of auras known as the “Vows”. Each one is named “Vow of ___” and grants the enchanted creature a power/toughness boost along with the text, “can’t attack you or a planeswalker you control.” Both of these cycles were creative ways for Wizards to encourage the political aspects of Commander.

Heavenly Inferno

• Main Commander: Kaalia of the Vast
• Colors: White, Black, Red
• Theme: Angels, Demons, and Dragons

Like the other decks released in this product, the Heavenly Inferno deck had a couple of great ideas that were spread a little too thin. There were a handful of powerful Angels, Demons, and Dragons in the deck (including a few new ones), but they came next to cards that definitely did not fit. Needless to say, there was plenty of room to upgrade this deck.

Iconic Cards

• Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
• Basandra, Battle Seraph
• Mana-Charged Dragon
• Death by Dragons
• Archangel of Strife

Mirror Mastery

• Main Commander: Riku of Two Reflections
• Colors: Blue, Red, Green
• Theme: Copying Spells

This deck mostly had two goals:

1. Ramp up to a lot of mana, so you can…
2. Cast really big creatures or spells, and copy them with Riku.

This commander requires a lot of mana to work properly, so the deck is equipped to generate a lot of mana. However, just like Heavenly Inferno, Mirror Mastery was not very focused and left a lot of room for the buyer to upgrade it.

Iconic Cards

• Animar, Soul of Elements
• Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• Collective Voyage
• Magmatic Force
• Hydra Omnivore
• Trench Gorger

Counterpunch

• Main Commander: Ghave, Guru of Spores
• Colors: White, Black, Green
• Theme: +1/+1 Counters

Counterpunch, led by Ghave, Guru of Spores, wants to do precisely what it’s name implies. The deck tries to kick out a bunch of little creatures and load them up with +1/+1 counters. Once it has, it will either overrun you with the army of tokens it has made, get value from removing the counters and sacrificing the creatures, or a combination of the two.

Iconic Cards

• Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
• Karador, Ghost Chieftain
• Hornet Queen
• Alliance of Arms
• Acorn Catapult

Political Puppets

• Main Commander: Zedruu the Greathearted
• Colors: Blue, Red, White
• Theme: Giving Things to Your Opponents

The Political Puppets deck feels like Wizards’ attempt to be hip with the kids. Don’t get me wrong, the design of Zedruu and the idea of giving your things away for value and politics is cool. Unfortunately, the deck just does not really have a great win condition. Optimized versions of this deck that give away harmful permanents and hunker down in a pillowfort can be very powerful.

Iconic Cards

• Ruhan of the Fomori
• Nin, the Pain Artist
• Flusterstorm
• Chaos Warp
• Crescendo of War

Devour for Power

• Main Commander: The Mimeoplasm
• Colors: Black, Green, Blue
• Theme: Graveyard

The Devour for Power precon combines creatures that have interesting abilities with creatures that have a lot of power and toughness. This way, when you fill your graveyard, The Mimeoplasm has plenty of targets to choose from.

Iconic Cards

• Damia, Sage of Stone
• Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
• Minds Aglow
• Shared Trauma

Conclusion

If you made it this far, I congratulate you. It just goes to show how many quality products Wizards has made to support the greatest format, Commander. I am sure that they will continue to release amazing products in the future.

Let me know down below which Commander deck was your favorite. Which cards inspired you to build new decks, or do you try to put in all of your decks? What kinds of decks do you want to see in the future?

Let me know in the comments below. Also, you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter.

Finally, here are some more Commander articles that might interest you:

• How to Build Your First Commander Deck
• Best Deck Boxes for Commander
• Is White Really That Bad in Commander