Welcome to Commander
As Magic’s most popular casual format, Commander (also known as EDH, short for Elder Dragon Highlander) is played by millions of people around the world. With over 20,000 Magic cards printed and the singleton rule governing deck building, Commander is a brewer’s paradise. Furthermore, Commander is a casual format where fun and socializing are valued higher than winning. Sure, there are competitive Commander decks and groups (CEDH) for those so inclined, but the idea of Commander is to create a memorable and fun experience for all, rather than to win.
“Where competitive formats seek to balance the playing field for all styles and strategies, we want to encourage a style of game that is more open and directed toward all players having a good time regardless of who wins. This is summarized as ‘Create games that you’d love to remember, not the ones others would like to forget.’” (Rules Page)
It is this spirit of Commander that keeps me (and many, many others) hooked. Playing fun games allows for creativity and creativity allows for building an endless number of unique, fun, and even sometimes powerful decks using cards that would otherwise not see the light of day. For those of us who started playing Magic as kids, you probably remember the first time you opened a massive creature, let’s say Inkwell Leviathan or Dragon Tyrant, that looked unbeatable. You jam it in your Standard deck (what we used to call our Play Deck, before Standard was a thing)…and never get to play it. You either win or lose before ever casting your new favorite card because it just costs so much mana. Commander is designed for such cards to have their day in the sun. Playing big fatties that cost an absurd amount of mana is almost a requirement.
But that’s the other thing about Commander – house rules are encouraged and so you and your playgroup can make it a requirement to include at least 5 spells over a certain mana cost.
Now lets say you’re the kind of player who loves multiple card combos or synergies built up over several turns. With over 20,000 cards, Magic offers a nearly endless number of these. Most constructed formats, though, are too fast and efficient to allow you to live your dream of that 5-card combo that will give you insane value. Commander, though, is meant for such innovation and fun to thrive. Whether its following up Divine Visitation with Elspeth, Sun’s Champion to get 3 4/4 Angels instead of 1/1 Soldier tokens, or something much more involved (like making infinite mana with Llanowar Scout, Retreat to Coralhelm, Lotus Cobra, and a bounce land in order to cast your Sphinx’s Revelation to draw your whole deck while you have Jace, Wielder of Mysteries in play to win the game), Commander is the place for you.
It’s a combo!
Have a favorite card that just isn’t good enough for competitive play? Love Brimaz, King of Oreskos or Ephara, God of the Polis as much as I do? Your commander has to be a legendary creature, so not only do you get to play your favorite card, but you also get to build your entire deck around it.
Have a favorite tribe? Love dragons ever since you opened up that Shivan Dragon back in the 90s? Commander allows you to build a dragon tribal deck that lets you play your favorite 40 or 50 (there are currently more than 300 dragons in Magic). Even better than jamming a bunch of dragons, your support cards can all be dragon-themed. Need removal? Play Draconic Roar or Sarkhan’s Rage. Need a sweeper? Try Crux of Fate. Need ramp and card draw? Dragon’s Hoard is the card for you.
Dragon Tribal!
Creating various and arbitrary deck restrictions encourages creativity and ingenuity in deck building, which, in turn, leads to far more varied games than you will find in Standard, Modern, or other constructed formats. And, in my opinion, more fun games, as well (though I do love those formats, particularly Modern).
Another great aspect of Commander is the price of decks. Anyone who wants to play a competitive deck in one of the other constructed formats will often find that even getting your mana base together can cost more than a car payment. Commander has so many cards to choose from that it’s easy to build a competitive and fun deck in which each card is under $1 even (be on the lookout for budget versions of many of my decks still to come). Sure, there are cards in Commander that cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars – we have access to nearly every card printed when building a deck – but we have the freedom to choose less optimal and therefore less expensive versions of those cards for our deck without sacrificing the quality of the games. In fact, playing many of these fringe or forgotten cards will increase the fun and excitement of the games you play.
No budget? Nah, we got a budget…
For those people who want super competitive decks in Commander, there’s nothing but your playgroup stopping you. Commander is about the people playing it having fun and if playing finely tuned decks that can win as early as turn 1 is what’s fun for you, there are likeminded people who will sit down at a table to play. And that’s the beauty of Commander. Other than the rules governing deck building, the game can be what you and your friends want it to be.
Finally, Commander allows you to build a deck tailored to your preferred style of play. I’ve mentioned combo, but there is plenty of room for aggro decks, control decks, midrange decks, and ramp decks, to name some of the most popular. In Commander, there’s a deck and a home for everyone. And, if you’re like me and love building decks as much as playing them, you’ll find no richer format.
Click here for a more detailed discussion of the rules of Commander.
My Philosophy and Deck Building Restrictions
I’ve built, played, and refined dozens of decks, many of which I will be highlighting in articles and gameplay, if I haven’t already. Readers and viewers can submit their own decks here (johnnycycles16@gmail.com). If it isn’t obvious yet, I love the creativity and freedom Commander gives us when it comes to putting a deck together. Starting with the commander, we often have a clear strategy or synergy to explore. From there, we can allow tribal, thematic, or play style aspects to govern our card choices. What’s important for me is building as unique and fun a deck as possible around each of my commanders. I’ll give you some examples in a minute, but what this translates to in reality is not each deck will run the same cards, even if there are some obvious inclusions for all decks (think Sol Ring).
And on this point I differ from what you’ll find Wizards suggests. Wizards mentions a “meta-class” of cards, “Commander staples,” that will go in each of our decks. To me, the very idea of a Commander staple runs contrary to the spirit of the format. Even though we have 99 cards to choose, once we include lands, we’re already down to about 60 cards. If we add in these “staples,” how many actual new and different cards are we playing?
Why Limit Card Choices?
First, I want to say this is a personal choice. I won’t judge anyone for playing Sol Ring if their playgroup supports it. I certainly won’t judge anyone with only one or two decks playing their best mana rocks or artifact ramp in both, even if that creates some similar opening hands. Commander is about having fun the way you want to, after all. This section is here to explain my reasoning for my choices. As you read through my deck lists and articles, you may wonder why some decks play fetch lands, for instance, while others do not. Or why some white decks have all the premier removal available in the color, while others rely on suboptimal kill spells or sweepers. Below you will find the answers.
Generally speaking and at the heart of my decisions are two things: creativity and variety. Artificial restrictions force me to be more creative, explore the card pool, and find hidden gems that make the game more fun and varied. Variation leads to games playing differently between decks I play, even if they share a color or colors.
Every blue deck should play these cards, right? WRONG!
Let’s break this down some more, as readers will surely comment on the lack of certain cards in my decks (still looking at you, Sol Ring). When we play the best artifacts and mana ramp, along with the best answers from the color(s) we are in, then our deck loses a lot of room for creativity. Each of our decks begins with Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, etc. for our ramp, and Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Expedition Map, etc. for our utility artifacts. Then, let’s say we’re playing white, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, etc., get added as that color’s best removal (though this is debatable now). Before you know it, you’re left with approximately 40 cards with which to build a unique deck. Not only is this not very many when you have a card pool of over 20,000, but the redundancy in mana rocks, ramp, and answers, makes your “unique” decks feel similar in game play. Furthermore, if the people at the table have followed a similar deck-building pattern, suddenly you have four people playing a lot of the same cards.
This doesn’t mean I never play these cards. In the decks I consider my most competitive, I’ve picked the most optimal and efficient cards for these slots as I can. In other decks, particularly ones that have a more refined or narrow strategy, like my G/W lifegain-counters deck that runs Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn as its commander, I play Swords to Plowshares because it synergizes with my strategy. I can target my own creature with Swords to Plowshares to gain life and trigger my commander’s static ability. I don’t play Path to Exile because it doesn’t synergize. For other decks, particularly my tribal ones, like my R/G Werewolf deck or my U/B Zombie deck, I have found removal that is on theme and eschewed what would be considered better removal (Moonrager’s Slash or Moonlight Hunt for example).
One of these two is strictly better…in Werewolf Tribal!
Here are the specific kinds of cards I’m talking about.
Money Mana Rocks
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
Other Mana Rocks
Commander’s Sphere
Arcane Signet
Sol Ring
Cards that can go in any deck
Expedition Map
Relic of Progenitus
Swiftfoot Boots
Lightning Greaves
Fetch Lands
The 10 original fetch lands (Arid Mesa, Scalding Tarn, etc.)
Dual Lands
The original Alpha dual lands (Underground Sea, Taiga, etc.)
Expensive Utility Lands
Wasteland
Strip Mine
This is not an exhaustive list, and, of course, we aren’t talking about CEDH decks on this site, unless otherwise noted. Many of the decks I’ll write about approach the power level of CEDH, but, for the most part, I limit my use of the truly broken ramp cards and all but avoid infinite combos. And, with the exception of a single deck, there isn’t a win possible on turns 1, 2, or 3. Not playing the best cards in a given color does reduce the power of a given deck, but it greatly increases creativity and variety!
Specialty Sets
Wizards has begun printing crossover Commander decks, like Doctor Who and Warhammer 40K, as part of their Universes Beyond series. And more are on the way. This poses some questions for any Commander player. Do we fork out the money to buy even more supplemental products when there are already so many? Does the break with the multiverse spoil the feel and flavor of the game? Do we ignore these sets entirely for this or other reasons? Do we only buy cards that synergize with our deck’s strategy? For me, I’ve avoided adding cards from these sets to my Commander decks with one exception: The Lord of the Rings. While technically outside the multiverse, the fantasy nature of the material makes it a more natural fit than say, Doctor Who, in my opinion. At the end of the day, the decision is yours (or maybe your play group’s). I’ll point out if and when I decide to play cards from these sets.
Final Thoughts
Due to circumstances and preference, I tend to play French Commander (1v1) or Team Commander (2v2) and some of my deck building choices reflect this reality. Here is another place I differ from Wizards. I enjoy the social aspect of 1v1 more than that of traditional Commander (4 people). I recently played at a Command Fest and got a lot of traditional games of Commander in and it was a blast. However, I think French Commander has a lot to offer players, particularly those who have a hard time finding three other people to play with, whether because of Covid, where you live, or having little kids, which have been the main circumstances that have prevented me from finding more people to play with.
French Commander takes the politics out of the game, which, for some, might be anathema to the spirit of the game. For me, it puts the focus on deck building and game play. Yes, traditional Commander frequently allows each player to execute their game plan with little disruption until someone wins, while in French Commander interaction often plays out similarly to a game of Standard, meaning it will be harder to get that 5-card combo online (though this is certainly not always the case). However, games of French Commander will frequently be shorter and more stream-lined. The strengths and weaknesses of your deck will become more apparent and sooner, in my opinion. And, you get to play more games!
I am writing this section not to convince others to play French Commander, though it’s worth trying out if you never have. I’m including it here to provide readers with further insight into my deck building choices. Knowing games won’t grind to a virtual halt due to 4 massive board states means having a 2-card, oops-I-win combo in your deck isn’t necessary. Winning a little at a time through combat happens more often than not, which means big bombs aren’t as crucial to success (though they are still just as fun to play). Having a single opponent also means Planeswalkers are more viable options for our 99. Having learned Magic when Planeswalkers didn’t exist, I don’t want to play a format that doesn’t allow me to jam these amazing cards.
I hope you enjoy my content and, if you’re new to Commander, I hope you discover how great this amazing format is! Contact me with any comments or questions at johnnycycles16@gmail.com. Does your play group have any house rules? What are they? Let me know in the comments!
