#like. yes i know the green eldrazi player is the 'threat' but he's also a durdler who goes for the 3 way simulkill

[starlit-mansion]

i don't mind being killed first in commander, i don't mind having my goodies blown up or being seen as the threat when i'm not or anything

i do mind when i target something on someone else's board and they immediately start whining that they're not the threat :(((( that other person's the threat :(((((((((((( come onnnn no one's allowed to touch my stuff :(((((((((((((((((((

bro grow UP.

[radramblog]

Werewolves are still iffy in EDH

With the release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, I’m sure many people myself included were hoping that the set’s Werewolf focus would solve some of the issues with the tribe in Commander. Having been a big fan of the creature type’s mechanics and design in Shadows block, and playing a lot of them in Limited and Standard formats, I was excited to see what MID would bring to the table.

Unfortunately, despite the shiny new commander the deck has, I’m not confident that the many, many issues that make Werewolves awkward in Commander have actually found an answer.

Issue 1: The cardpool

Werewolves are kind of in this awkward place where due to mechanically being tied to Innistrad and its double-faced-card Transform mechanic, there just aren’t very many of them, even though we’ve been to Innistrad 3 times now. As well, of the current 6 Innistrad-based sets, 2 of them (DKA and EMN) are small sets and 1 (AVR) doesn’t actually have any werewolves in them. The number of werewolves, therefore, is not particularly big- at time of writing, 83 cards exist with the word Werewolf or Werewolves, and of those 5 are explicit hate pieces. And one is Victim of Night, a removal spell that happens not to hit them. That leaves 78 cards to work with, outside of Changelings.

Frustratingly, WoTC has done very little to supplement this when visiting other planes. There exist exactly 6 Werewolf-related cards printed outside of Innistrad, with only 4 of those actually being Werewolves. I appreciate the slight bones being thrown in the form of WAR Arlinn, Nightpack Ambusher, and AFR’s own Werewolf Pack leader, but that’s about a card a year, which is not enough to support a tribe like this.

There’s also an issue where most of the Werewolf cards are pretty much just limited fodder. Of the 62 cards with the type Werewolf on them (again not including Changelings), I’d wager maybe 30 of them are playable in Commander, using an extremely loose definition of the word playable and with the understanding that this deck is going to be janky as hell. The tribe really suffers from its flavour-based limits, especially with the lack of non-Innistrad support, even though many of the game’s mechanics could be adapted to flavour of the Werewolf.

The final problem with the cardpool is the weak support cards. Werewolves have a fair few support cards, actually, but the issue is most of them are either not scaled for the format or only apply on one side of a 2-sided card. Many tribes in the middle-ground of card quality can get propped up by a handful of really good support cards- as an example, Treefolk have Timber Protector and Leaf-Crowned Elder, and Myr have Myr Galvaniser, Myr Turbine, and basically every Artifact support card ever to exist. Werewolves are stuck with, outside of one or two spicy new cards, mostly just +1/+1 anthems/counters and a handful of keywords, and also Immerwolf/Geier Reach Bandit (but the latter only half the time).

The result of this is that despite arguably being one of the better supported tribes as far as card numbers, Werewolves seriously pale in comparison to the majority of the field, especially compared to their Innistradi brethren- they look real awkward next to Humans, Zombies, Spirits, and Vampires.

Issue 2: The colours

Werewolves are pretty shoehorned into Gruul as far as the cards go. Both legendary Werewolves and the Werewolf Planeswalker are in the colour combination, as well as the vast majority of the tribe’s members. However, Midnight Hunt has added some other options in all 3 other colours, and there are reasons to run each anyway- mostly to do with, you know, that whole cardpool issue.

Because as good as Tovolar is, this tribe needs a little help from another colour, in my opinion.

White is the most commonly added colour to Werewolf decks, due to getting to play Rule of Law effects to stop your Werewolves from getting flipped back over. If I build Werewolves, it probably will be Naya, just because I already have two Gruul decks, but my issue is the lack of a clear Commander. Samut is clearly the best option, mostly on account of Flash and the deck likely being fairly aggressive, but I have an issue with commanders, particularly Tribal commanders, not accurately representing the deck. But then, what am I supposed to go with? Anara/Bruse Tarl? Gahiji? Rin and Seri kinda work flavourfully, if you squint, but they do nothing for the gameplay of the deck. I probably would have to just get over it and play Samut, and maybe you should too.

Midnight Hunt did also throw some Black Werewolves in, to go with the original 3 from back in the day (the utterly terrible Treacherous Werewolf, Lesser Werewolf, and Greater Werewolf), opening Jund as an option, kind of. My issue with this is that aside from just general good cards, Black doesn’t really add much to the deck’s likely plans, and only one of the new Black Werewolves, Graveyard Tresspasser, is really any good. I suppose this does mean you could run 4-colour with Saskia, but…eh…

This set also added a singular Blue werewolf in Suspicious Stowaway, which is actually kinda okay. And also Blue gets one extra Rule of Law effect in Arcane Laboratory. But I don’t think I’m going to see Temur Werewolves anytime soon. I guess you could run Surrak? Blue does notably also get you a bunch of the better Changelings, on account of their recent Kaldheim iterations being in Green-Blue.

There is always, of course, Morophon. But that fucker’s for cowards. The TL;DR is, that Werewolves’s best commanders don’t give you access to everything the deck needs.

 Issue 3: The tribes

This is somewhat of a more minor issue, but one worth bringing up. Many of the Werewolf matters cards are shared with Wolf matters cards, and so it’s likely worth bringing a few of the better Wolves into the mix. Sarulf, if you’re including Black, or one or both Tolsimir-s in White. Wolves are a tribe with many, many more members, especially adding in all the Wolf Token producing cards, though there are still fewer Wolf Matters cards than Werewolf Matters ones. Also, some of the Werewolf Matters cards are Wolves, like Nightpack Ambusher, Silverfur Partisan, and Immerwolf. So there’s probably a fair few worth throwing in.

As well, seeing as the vast majority of Werewolves have Human front faces, some Humans matter cards like Angel of Glory’s Rise or the new Katilda are worth a shout. There are very few of these that work unfortunately, seeing as you are actively trying to have your humans not be humans, but it’s potentially worth the look.

The reason I find this to be an issue is that you can only add in so many subthemes like this before the deck’s real synergies start to get too heavily diluted. Every Wolf you add makes your Werewolves worse, you know?

I dunno maybe this one was less an issue and more just a recommendation. And yes I know most of the non-Human Werewolves are in fact Eldrazi, but as much as I love those cards they’re both mostly bad and there’s not enough of them, so don’t bother putting Eldrazi cards in there. You have to dump a lot of mana to flip them anyway.

Issue 4: The gameplay

Werewolves as a tribe are extremely challenging from a gameplay perspective. You have to be paying close attention every turn, in order to make sure that you know when your Werewolves are transforming- and in a format like Commander, they are probably not spending nearly as much time with the back half as they are the front half.

While I appreciate Midnight Hunt’s design efforts to simplify this with the Daybound mechanic, in Commander this kinda just makes it worse. Daybound means you are having to track this mechanic at all times, even when you or nobody else has a Werewolf on the field, as long as you’ve played one of the new ones beforehand. As well, the older cards (which you will need some of) are completely unlinked to this day/night cycle, even though they technically use the same trigger, which can lead to some confusion- if, for example, Tovolar makes it Night on your Upkeep, playing a Duskwatch Recruiter is still going to leave you with a Duskwatch Recruiter, not a Krallenhorde Howler.

Considering Tovolar is likely the leader for most Werewolf decks going forward, I appreciate the effort to make him work with the Werewolves of the past, and that he tries to mitigate the tribe’s biggest issue. But there are a whole bunch of really finicky interactions that are both difficult to get your head around and difficult to explain to others when you pull them off. For example, if the player before you casts two spells on their turn, it becomes Day as the turn begins, meaning all your MID Werewolves will transform immediately, then Upkeep happens, and any of your non-MID Werewolves flip as well. Then Tovolar triggers, and you can transform as many of your Werewolves as you want- so if you stack the triggers right, then something like, say, Huntmaster of the Fells or Ulrich of the Krallenhorde will get to transform twice in the same step and get both of its “when ~ transforms” effects.

The other half of this is just the mental load on your opponents. You know what all your cards do, but your opponents aren’t going to! And this is a typical thing in EDH, the game requires either a massive knowledge of Magic, an ability to pick up on new cards and interactions quickly, or both, but it gets so much worse when each of your cards has two sides worth of text to read off whenever you play one. And people (particularly those with less-than-perfect threat assessment) are going to typically assume that the more words on your cards the better they are, so you might get targeted just based on that even though half the words aren’t relevant most of the time.

The long and short of Werewolves in EDH is this: They’re still awkward and janky. I think you can actually build a deck, but you could already do that technically, and I think the additions from MID aren’t quite enough to bump the tribe up to Actually Good. They are, though, about the level of Jank that I appreciate, so maybe I’ll still just build them anyway.

There is potential hope, though. Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is an Innistrad Werewolf Set that contains no less than 15 Vampires (one of my biggest issues with the set!), and the next set is Innistrad: Crimson Vow, the Innistrad Vampire Set. Due to the mechanical requirements, I can’t imagine we’re seeing 15 Werewolves in that one, but I’m hoping we do at least get a couple extras. And hey, maybe one of that one’s Commander decks will be Werewolves!

…The previous was written under the assumption that we didn’t know what the VOW Commander Decks were. As it turns out, we have the names. Neither of them are Werewolf themed.

God damn it, maybe next time we come back to Innistrad then. So, see you in 2026.

[wolfthebard]

War of the Spark: Mythic Review

Greetings and salutations peeps. This week, many Magic the Gathering players will get to experience that joys that is Pre-release: War of the Spark. This set has 36 Planeswalkers, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff. As a Commander player, I’m excited. So I’m going to list my thoughts and such on the Mythics, Rares, and Uncommons (with a handful of commons). This will be broken into multiple parts. Also, these thoughts for these cards are strictly on how they impact the Commander format. Today, we’ll be looking at the 15 Mythic cards of the set! Without further wait.

Ok, so this is not Green Sun’s Zenith. Zenith gives us ramp in the form of Dryad Arbor, this doesn’t. Now, this has a built in finisher. To pay 10, search a Craterhoof. Well one that’s magical holiday land, but it’s an almost guaranteed end for most players. I’d consider this a alt-second copy for Zenith, and it should find a home in many creature based decks.

I was going to end it here for this, but there’s more. This also reanimates. This is green reanimation. So this finds a home and is a great way for mono green decks to revive a Craterhoof, or something else. More applications, means more decks can play it. Rating 4/5: Not the first choice for many decks, but has a small tool box that we can use.

Ok, so this card is alright. It’s a 12 mana, significantly worse Rise of the Dark Realms.  While the Green Finale is a worse Zenith, it does something more. Eternity here is a worse removal spell, and unlike Realms, it only gets your creatures back from the grave. Mono black has better answers for both targeted and board removal. I don’t see too many decks needing this. Rating 2/5. There are better options for everything this card wants to do, but if your play group doesn’t have a lot of graveyard hate, and plays low curve creatures. Maybe use this? I’d pick up a foil one, cause the art is sweet.

Oh my, this is a Decree of Justice call back. In tokens this card is great, also paying ten nets you a total of 60 power. Also, if you’re playing a competitive tokens deck, it’ll probably net you more. Paying 10 isn’t a replacement...it adds!  Not much more to say, card is great for late game, and in tokens. Rating 5/5: Good card is good. Flavor text depicts the fear your opponents will feel. While this could have been an instant, I think it’s still a great card.  

Man, red I think got one of the crazier cards here. The and/or clause is great. Just by paying 2, you can get a total value of (4) mana. Getting to ten, which is easy for Izzet decks, heck even mono-red decks. Allowing us to copy those spells twice is nuts. This is a real finisher, and if it resolves, you can probably K.O someone, if not the entire group.  Yes, those spells go into exile, but we have cards like Ral, Izzet Viceroy can still utilize them. Rating 5/5. This is what finishers should look like. That and/or clause, it’s what makes this card good. Any spell heavy deck is going to love this card. 

The last Finale. A blue, sorcery-speed draw spell. Ok, so the x makes this card cost 7, not 12. Yes, we draw 10 cards, shuffle our graveyard, and have no max hand size. I think this card is good, but we have cards like Blue Sun’s Zenith, Sphinx’s Rev, all are instant-speed, with Rev gaining us life. I feel like decks that take a lot of turns will like this card, just for the no max hand size. It’s just a bit too slow. Still, it will see play in blue decks. Rating: 3/5. While there are practical uses, there are still so many better options that can stall games, save yourself, or instant-speed. Not a bad card, but with the other options in the same budget, I’d go to those first.

First Planeswalker! Gideon deserves to be honored! Ok, reviews...breathe... 3 mana, 4/4 that can’t die on your turn, good. The fact his +1 allows us indestructible is a great trick. Yes, lifelink and vigilance is great, but I like swinging in with a big buff creature that can’t die. The -6 is nuts. Yes it takes three turns to get there, but this answers so many things; Eldrazi and other planeswalkers we don’t want to see.  Rating 4/5. He’s not the best White Walker, but he has his uses. Budget voltron decks can use this, and the +1 allows us to work within a frame of getting some damage in...or you know, protecting our Commander, if only on our turn. 

Pick a God and Pray! We got beef with our 5/6 with Menace. Token decks playing black...you have a new toy to draw things. Mono black decks have a card that lets them get around pacified creatures, and artifacts that they may not need anymore. As a general, it’s kinda neat that Bontu never dies really. I’d rather play Bontu in the 99, as a general it can cause people to focus their removal on us, which leads to feel bad moments.  Rating 4/5: Black has a lot of draw and sac outlets, Bontu is the best of both worlds, as a general they’re a bit slow. They shine in Aristocrat decks and the like. The reasoning for not a perfect score is, it doesn’t just end the game. 

This bird gives you the word. Ok, I need to point out this is like giving everything in your deck Miracle...it’s going to be annoying that your opponent has to pause draw like a character in Yu-gi-oh, so they don’t miss a trigger and or seem like they’re cheating. I love this card. So you don’t play the card, you just show it off, and pay two less. Now I am assuming that if you draw on your opponents turn, and draw a sorcery you can still cast it on their turn. I think I’m reading that right. Still the fact you can reduce the cost, keep the drawn card. This card is a great mono-blue general, or in the 99 of spell heavy decks (Niv has a friend!) The big body on this bird means it’s not going down easy. Rating 5/5. This card enables finishers, allows combo decks to go off early, and it’s “build around me” ability makes this a great general. 

This is what Pusheen prays to. Creature based white decks, Heliod is a false prophet. Oketra is the God you’re looking for.  Ok, it does 6 damage cause of Double strike. Cool, as a general this card is ok, but the ability to make 4/4s with vigilance is nuts. Those late game early drop creatures now pack a punch. Not much to say. You play creatures? You want more creatures? Go pet this cat...or offer it up the sparks of an Elder Dragon? Rating 5/5 Great general, great in the 99. Go for that voltron theme for whatever reason cause Oketra has double strike, or just play a bunch of low curve creatures to give you a big field.

Hello Rhonas, how are you doing? Ok, I wish it gave trample over vigilance, but I mean. It just doubles everything...and those things probably have Trample already. This is like the Green Finale. It might just be the end game right here.  Rating 4/5. If it gave trample, it would be perfect. As it stands, it’s still a great finisher. I’d probably just play them in the 99. Great finisher, if you’re looking to remove things like Over-run....or just put it in an infect heavy deck...That’s just evil. 

Boar God! Ok, this here is a general. Like the other Gods, if it dies somehow, it goes to the deck. Putting out free creatures will never not be good. also 6/6 trample for five mana is amazing value. Mono-red decks, you got a good general. Any creature heavy deck that plays red. Find room for this Boar. Think of all the fun stuff you can do....like just ending the turn...you know..to keep the creature. If you want other fun stuff. Cards like Panharmonicon is going to be great with all the ETB effects. Games can end quick with Illharg. Listen, this little piggy doesn’t even need to be your commander. Playing Nikya, and just don’t feel like tapping mana? BAM! Pig~ Playing Narset? BAM! Pig~ Enjoying getting them dummy thicc creatures out on the field. Rating 5/5: Where’s the Beef? It’s right here~ 

Bitch, I lived~  6 mana is ok for a 6 loyality walker. Her triggered ability is amazing. We’re in the color of sacrificing our own creatures. She has two forms of built in protection, and while her Ult takes four turns to set up, it’s  worth it. This is a more fair Karn Ult, and if we get there, oh boy did something bad happen. As a general (because Planeswalkers should be generals). She’s solid. With the right cards we can get her out by turn three. Even on curve, she does everything we would want. As the 99, I do miss the ability to search for a card and the discard, but gaining board presence and drawing cards is solid. Rating 5/5. She fits into so many decks. From mono black, to Golgari midrange, to anything that has creatures. Liliana shines so bright.

The big bad is here. You ready? Five mana for a 4 loyality walker is ok. The static ability to have all Planeswalker abilities is great. Noting, this goes for your opponents walkers too! Yes, there’s a build around me superfriends vibe Bolas is giving off, but, let’s break him down. His first ability is ok. The exile clause  can mess with our opponents, but in Commander, we’ll lose a land and not be hurting. His second allows us to get rid of pesky cards. While not hitting artifacts or enchantments is kinda meh, it can still get rid of immediate threats. His ult is game winning, no seriously it’s in the text. I love effects that punish players for not playing their commander. Yes, this takes 5 turns (depending on if you don’t have a +2 walker out on the field). So this gives your opponents time to bring out their Commander, but Bolas is an immediate threat. Having the two of the same ability is great. Double Jace? How about Double Liliana of the Veil? Grixis walkers can really be a thing. As a general, this is flavorful. In the 99, and in the right build. This is a toolbox. Rating 4/5. Really needs supporting walkers to make Him a “God”, but still a solid card. 

Reborn into what exactly? Ok, This really is a “Build” around me general. If we’re talking generals, Scion of the Ur-Dragon is the boss. Niv-Reborn can do some cool stuff, and the flavor of caring about the guilds is great. Even in the 99, I can’t see why you’d put him in a five color deck. Most already have better tutors/draw/etc. Niv is ok, but not really the “boss” we’re looking for in a general. Though I’ll admit, I’m going to brew him. Rating: 2/5 Requires a heavy build around them, that doesn’t net you a winning advantage. Art is sick, and the foil will look amazing.

It’s a bird! It’s a Human! It’s uh...cool looking? Roalesk is a neat little card. a 4/5 for 5 is solid stats for a Commander, and evasion and trample is great. The ETB to pump your guys is great and fits into already solid strategies. Ok, and when he dies you get an effect. Hm...if we send Roalesk to the Command Zone, we won’t get that effect. But, in the 99, and with a whole bunch of “Counters Matter”, this is amazing. Teaming up with Rishkar can generate a lot of mana. Also Atraxa has a new friend with all her walkers. Seriously, this set gave Atraxa so much. Rating: 4/5 A solid card in the 99, and an ok general. Has many applications, and can win games of their LTB trigger. Overall War of the Spark has some great Mythics, that help established decks and may diversify for some new ones. With a total of three lack luster ones, this set is gonna hold value.  Thanks for reading. In the next article, we’ll be focusing on the rares of this set! See you then!

[loreleywrites]

Command Zone: The State of Commander – Aether Revolt

Commander is largely a multiplayer format. This disposes it to being a format that strongly embraces my favorite aspect of Magic: community. Magic doesn’t begin with the first land drop and end when a player’s life hits zero; the people who experience the game with us stay part of our lives through friendships, online communities, various forms of consumable content, and a network of ideas and emotions to be shared by everyone.

Much of what I peddle on this blog are facts, ideas, and speculations. Today’s article will contain little of that. Instead, this is all about me.

Since Commander is steeped in variation, I want to share all twenty-three of my decks with you. Part of the fun of Commander is seeing what cards other people are playing that you’re not. What strategies they’re embracing that you’re curious about. What novelties spring from their brains that you find enjoyable. Hopefully the deck lists and brief descriptions in today’s article can entertain you, spark inspiration in your own decks, and foster conversation about the best format in Magic.

Karn Artifacts

Karn, Silver Golem by Mark Zug

The deck.

Colorless is not a color, which always makes colorless decks weird. Karn is built around artifacts, obviously, as their main ability animates artifacts. That makes for a lot of potential creatures running around, which is why there are so many noncreature artifacts present. I decided to eschew Wastes and keep the mana base classically colorless.

Kozilek Eldrazi

Kozilek, the Great Distortion by Aleksi Briclot

The deck. (Note: This is the only list that shows the actual card versions I’m using.)

Battle for Zendikar block brought Wastes and tons more colorless Eldrazi cards to Commander. I split my existing Kozilek deck into two parts. Karn took the artifacts, and the Great Distortion took the Eldrazi. This is my favorite deck and my current foil-out project. As you can see in the link, I’m most of the way there. It’s purdy.

Nahiri Equipment

Nahiri, the Lithomancer by Eric Deschamps

The deck.

We first learned the Lithomancer’s identity with Nahiri’s first planeswalker card. Conveniently, she can also be a commander! I chose her as the leader of my Equipment deck because her +1 can always poop out a creature token after a board wipe, which she won’t die in herself. My pet card here is Lancers en-Kor, who have trample. Exceptionally rare for a mono-White card, but very powerful when loaded up with Equipment.

Thassa Sea Monsters

Thassa, God of the Sea by Jason Chan

The deck.

Sea monsters are the best part of Blue, and Thassa is the perfect commander for a deck full of them. Leviathans, Krakens, Serpents, Squids, Octopuses, and Crabs rise from the depths to wreak havoc on landlubbing foes. The prized cards here are Thassa’s Emissary and Skittering Crustacean, which I received as a gift signed by Kelly Digges, Alison Luhrs, Michael Yichao, and Mel Li. Thanks again, Wizards peeps!

Chandra Burn

Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh by Eric Deschamps

The deck.

Chandra is my second favorite planeswalker (Kiora #1!), but she’s the one with the legendary creature. This deck is just full of flavorful Chandra spells and other cards that represent pyromancy. The goal here isn’t to play a stellar game of Magic, it’s to sling as many burn spells around as recklessly as possible.

Titania Lands

Titania, Protector of Argoth by Magali Villeneuve

The deck.

A Mel deck through and through, as Titania offers such a bizarre style of play. Destroying your own lands for value is a twist on how Magic normally goes, but Titania makes it possible. Basically every card in this deck helps find lands or destroy them. If you’ve never cast Scapeshift for twenty lands while controlling Avenger of Zendikar, you have never truly played Green. The deck used to have a Squirrel subtheme, but those cards really took away from the deck, you know, working.

Ojutai Snow

Ojutai, Soul of Winter by Chase Stone

The deck.

There are not many good commanders for a snow-flavored deck, but Ojutai just so happens to be the Soul of Winter. This deck combines a snow permanent theme with a Dragon tribal subtheme. It’s kind of controlling, what with all the freezing, but can hit pretty hard with big fliers. There are tons of neat winter-themed cards, as that’s the central gimmick of the deck. I can’t wait until we get another block with snow permanents so I can add even more flavor.

Ulasht Tokens

Ulasht, the Hate Seed by Nottsuo

The deck.

One of my first Commander decks, Ulasht has survived through the years by just being a blast to play. The token theme allows Ulasht to be downright explosive, giving the deck a sort of modular feel. Sometimes I’m making lots of Saprolings. Other times, Goblins. I will say that I should probably go through this deck at some point and cut down on the number of different tokens it makes. Focusing on only a few types will make it easier to represent them with dice and such in case I don’t have the actual tokens.

Karametra Enchantress

Karametra, God of Harvests by Eric Deschamps

The deck.

The power of Nyx is bestowed upon me with my Karametra deck. This one is all about enchantments, featuring almost no nonenchantment, nonland cards. There’s plenty of Theros flavor, but also powerful mechanical icons like Mesa Enchantress and Mirari’s Wake. If you’ve never seen an indestructible God loaded up with Auras before, then you probably haven’t died the most agonizing death in the Multiverse yet.

Vish Kal Vampires

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter by Michael C. Hayes

The deck.

This deck has been all over the place, but it finally settled on two related themes: life gain and Vampire tribal. Nearly every creature is a Vampire, leveraging some of the unique tribal spells that support them. Gaining life is easy with the Ravnican and Zendikari Vampires that had it as a theme. Vish Kal himself is also very powerful, able to smash for a ton of damage as well as repeatedly remove opposing threats. This deck can attack on a lot of axes, which makes it kind of a midrange Commander deck.

Melek Spells

Melek, Izzet Paragon by Johann Bodin

The deck.

The Izzet are all about instants and sorceries, so of course my Melek deck is no different. My main goal is to resolve Epic Experiment as many times as possible (My single-game record is four.) There are a lot of familiar cards here if you’ve seen a spell-centric deck like this before. Expectedly, this deck is capable of explosive turns that are difficult to interact with.

Glissa Artifacts

Glissa, the Traitor by Steve Argyle

The deck.

Phyrexia just makes Elves better. This is an aristocrats-style deck that grinds out a lot of value over the course of a game. There are tons of little artifacts with little effects that don’t seem worth a card. But when you consider that I can get those effects multiple times over the course of a game, they start looking very attractive. And just to clarify: I have zero artifact-based decks with Blue in them. I know, it’s weird. But Glissa makes grindy games so much fun I don’t care.

Aurelia Samurai

Aurelia, the Warleader by Slawomir Maniak

The deck.

Please please pleaseee, @wizardsmagic, print a legendary Samurai with a Red/White color identity. Aurelia is just a placeholder for my Samurai tribal deck. It’s filled with flavorful Kamigawa cards, attacking-matters cards, and lots of extra combat spells (hence Aurelia). I want more Samurai so bad too, as there are lots of bad cards in this deck. But that’s part of the fun of Commander. You can build tons of decks at different power levels.

Vorel +1/+1 Counters

Vorel of the Hull Clade by Mike Bierek

The deck.

If you’ve never seen a Vorel deck before, things can get ridiculous. Most of the permanents in this deck utilize counters in some way. Hydras are featured, as almost all of them scale with your mana and use +1/+1 counters. Needless to say, Deepglow Skate was a boon for this deck. And Armorcraft Judge. And Rishkar, Peema Renegade. OK, it was a great year for +1/+1 counter decks.

Kaseto Snakes

Kaseto, Orochi Archmage by Aaron Miller

The deck.

sneaky sneks

I had a casual 60-card Green/Blue Snake deck for a long time. Kaseto let me translate that into Commander, evolving one casual deck into another. Sosuke’s Summons is absurd when you can cast it almost every turn. Even when I can’t flood the battlefield with tokens, Kaseto can turn any single Snake into a monstrous attacker.

Ezuri Infect

Ezuri, Claw of Progress by James Ryman

The deck.

I like Simic decks. Sue me.

This is my most flavorful deck. Ezuri embraces New Phyrexia’s most sinister theme: infect. Thankfully, most infect creatures are pretty crappy in Commander. They’re so little! Ezuri does help fix that, but he’s also pretty fragile. Every spell in this deck is from New Phyrexia, and every land is either from there or could feasibly be from there (Breeding Pool definitely sounds like it could be Phyrexian.)

Karrthus Dragons

Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund by Dave Kendall

The deck.

DARGONS!!! This deck is pretty straightforward. Ramp, cast some removal spells, and then attack with the tyrants of the sky. Yes, it amuses me that between this and Ojutai, I have Dragon decks for all five colors. I used to have a Scion of the Ur-Dragon deck, but it was too repetitive.

Surrak Creatures

Surrak Dragonclaw by Jaime Jones

The deck.

With only seven noncreature, nonland cards, it’s clear what Surrak is about. Hint: it’s creatures. Ramp, removal, card draw, beatdown, it’s all being done by creatures here. Restrictions breed creativity and yadda yadda yadda IT’S TIME TO PUNCH THINGS NOW. This deck is one of my favorites to play.

Ghave Fungi

Ghave, Guru of Spores by James Paick

The deck.

There are a lot of degenerate Ghave decks that do stupidly broken things with +1/+1 counters. Part of that is because Ghave is really powerful. My take on the deck is much more focused on the Fungus/Saproling tribal theme. Most of the noncreature spells are also flavorfully connected to the decomposing organisms. I literally finished this deck this week, so I haven’t gotten to play with it yet. I’m eager to.

Mimeoplasm Mill

The Mimeoplasm by Svetlin Velinov

The deck.

Mill, eat, repeat. Mill, eat, repeat. Mill, eat, repeat. I wanted to build a deck that lets The Mimeoplasm eat tons of enemy creatures, but also provide a ton of options to eat itself. The self-mill and reanimation strategies also mean this deck doesn’t have to rely on Muraganda’s legendary Ooze to muscle through games. This was one of my first decks, and the list has probably changed more than any other in my repertoire.

Atraxa -1/-1 Counters

Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice by Victor Adame Minguez

The deck.

Keep your superfriends and infect and +1/+1 counter decks. I embraced the decay of New Phyrexia and built my Atraxa deck around -1/-1 counters. Plus a bunch of flavorful New Phyrexia cards (I can’t help my Vorthos nature.) Even though I’m not focusing on Atraxa’s most powerful themes, this is quite a mighty deck.

Yidris Chaos

Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder by Karl Kopinski

The deck.

I had originally planned this deck to be built around Maelstrom Wanderer, but Yidris gave me the perfect opportunity to add another color. This deck has one goal: never know what will happen next. That doesn’t mean send the game into a death spiral of chaos (well, not completely), but to keep it progressing towards a conclusion in the flashiest way possible. There are a number of Group Hug style cards in this deck. I want things to happen. I want to force players to make decisions. I want the game to go somewhere, no matter how ugly it gets when it arrives. I also just completed this deck, so I haven’t gotten to experience the wild ride I have designed.

Sliver Queen Slivers

Sliver Queen by Ron Spencer

The deck.

My arsenal wouldn’t be complete without a WUBRG deck for my favorite tribe, Slivers. Naturally, the Queen is the one leading the deck. I really like how Slivers play in Commander, as you never know what mix of abilities you’re going to get. It makes every game unique and keeps the deck from getting stale. Considering this deck hasn’t changed since Magic 2015, that’s a very good thing.

Twenty-Three and Counting

I’m not deliberately trying to build a Commander deck for every color combination, but I won’t be surprised if I get there one day. I do factor what combinations I don’t have yet when considering new decks, as I like pushing myself into new territory in order to make each deck unique. At the moment, I’m considering mono-Black King Macar, the Gold-Cursed; mono-White Bruna, the Fading Light; and Mardu Alesha, Who Smiles at Death as my next deck. And then who knows what Amonkhet will bring in a few months!

And now that I’ve shared my decks with you, planeswalkers, what Commander decks do you arm yourself with?