How to Never Build a Good Commander Deck Again

Building a Commander deck may be one of the most fun things to exercise in Magic: The Gathering! MTG Commander decks offering a lot of flexibility and give you the opportunity to let your personality shine through.

That existence said, building an MTG Commander deck isn't easy. If yous offset putting in cards randomly, you may not become the result you lot were looking for. This commodity will give you the resources you need to build a Commander deck with the perfect balance of functionality and fun!

Commander cards

How Many Cards in an MTG Commander deck?

Unlike in well-nigh other MTG formats, Commander decks require you lot to take exactly 100 cards. These 100 cards include your deck's commander (more on that in the side by side section). To make matters fifty-fifty more interesting, every single card in your deck needs to be unique. With the exception of basic lands, yous can have only one of each card.

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Choosing Your Commander

Your commander will probably be the most of import card in your Commander deck. Subsequently all, the format is chosen Commander! Before nosotros starting time going over what makes a skillful commander, allow's first sympathize the concept of colour identity.

What is Colour Identity?

A card's color identity refers to which colored mana symbols appear on it. For example, Kess, Dissident Mage's color identity is blueish-black-red, because its mana price consists of those three colors. Kenrith, the Returned Male monarch's colour identity is actually all five colors, fifty-fifty though it only requires white mana to be cast. This is because information technology has five activated abilities, each one costing a unlike color.

Equally for how this all relates to your commander, each colored mana symbol that appears on a card in your deck must likewise announced on your commander. For example, if your commander is Kess, Dissident Mage, you can only play blue, blackness, and carmine cards (or cards that are a combination of these colors). On the other manus, if your commander is Kenrith, the Returned King, you lot can put any cards you want in your deck because Kenrith's color identity is all five colors.

The large takeaway here is to pay attention to your commander'south color identity. The fewer colors that appear on your commander, the harder it will exist to observe good cards that fit in your deck.

What Cards Tin Be a Commander?

According to Magic's official rules for the format, your commander must be a legendary creature.

Legendary creatures have a whole set of rules that employ to them, merely for the purposes of this article, all you demand to know is that a legendary creature has the 'Legendary Creature' text on it, like Kenrith, the Returned Male monarch beneath.

Tin can a Planeswalker Be a Commander?

Some Planeswalkers have the text "[planeswalker name] tin can be your commander" written at the bottom. Those Planeswalkers tin can be your commander.

Ane instance is Terefi, Temporal Archmage.

Sidenote: Commander was designed as a casual format, which means the whole purpose of it is to have fun. If y'all and your friends want to change the rules to your liking, go ahead! Pick any Planeswalker to be your commander if you like. Just make sure your friends concur to this first.

What is the Best Commander?

Technically, there'south no "all-time" commander, but some are definitely meliorate than others. While there are plenty of great commanders out there, we can grouping them into 2 categories: value commanders and combo commanders.

Okay, now for the fun part: choosing your commander!

Value commanders

In the first category, nosotros have value commanders. Creatures like Kenrith, the Returned Male monarch and Kess, Dissident Mage are smashing examples of this. They requite you lots of deckbuilding flexibility because they piece of work well in nearly every type of deck. These are some criteria yous'll want to expect out for when choosing a value commander:

• Good colour identity. The more than colors that appear on your commander, the more cards you'll be able to pick from when building your deck. If yous pick a commander with very few colors, y'all'll be putting tight restrictions on what cards you can play.
• Value-based abilities. This isn't absolutely necessary, merely having a commander that tin can depict you some extra cards at any signal during the game volition brand sure y'all never run out of things to exercise.
• A reasonable mana toll. If the mana cost of your commander is too high, y'all may never go the run a risk to cast it.

Philharmonic commanders

In the second category, we have combo commanders. These are commanders that accept unique abilities which you'll want to take advantage of by edifice your deck effectually them. Creatures similar Yisan, the Wandered Barn and Urza, Lord High Artificer are two great combo commanders.

Hither are some criteria to look out for when picking a philharmonic-based commander:

• Synergistic color identity. The number of colors available to yous doesn't matter and so much as what specific colors are available. If at that place is a carte that synergizes very well with your commander, make sure it fits within your commander'southward colour identity.
• Unique abilities. After all, these abilities are what you'll be building your deck around. For example, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard has the unique ability to search your library for specific creatures and put them direct onto the battlefield. If Yisan is your commander, you'll desire to pay close attention to which creatures get into your deck.
• Cheap mana cost. In a deck that requires your commander to operate at full power, you'll want to cast it as quickly as possible. The before you lot can get it in play, the earlier you can start putting your gameplan into activeness.

The Command Zone

What'due south so special most a commander anyways? Well, every other card starts the game somewhere in your deck. The commander's special because information technology starts in the command zone, a zone unique to the Commander format.

In terms of mechanics, before a game of Commander starts, each player sets aside their commander before shuffling their deck. At the start of the game, your commander starts face-up in the command zone. Information technology can be cast at any time for its mana cost, plus an extra 2 mana for each time you've cast your commander from the command zone. Whenever your commander is sent from the battleground to either your paw, graveyard, exile, or library, y'all may choose to have information technology get back to the command zone instead.

Basically, you lot'll e'er be able to play your commander assuming you have the mana available, so having a great one volition make a tremendous departure in every game you play.

Strategy

Considering many of the rules in Commander are different from about other Magic formats, you'll desire to modify your strategy accordingly. First of all, each player starts the game at 40 health instead of 20. This makes archetype aggro decks much less pop in Commander because it's so much more difficult to finish off games rapidly.

Plus, Commander was designed as a multiplayer format. Nearly games of Commander are played with iv players. Some cards that are groovy in two-player games (such as Thoughtseize) go much less popular in four-player games since their overall impact is much lower. Cyclonic Rift, on the other hand, hardly ever gets played in ii-player games of Magic, but it's one of the best cards in Commander.

Commander Damage

If a histrion has been dealt 21 or more combat impairment past the aforementioned commander over the course of a game, that histrion loses the game. That may influence which commander you cull and the strategy you choose for your deck.

Yous may build a deck around that win status and heave your commander to go that player damage in!

Choosing your MTG Commander deck theme

Similar with any Magic deck, yous'll desire a fundamental theme that pulls it all together. This theme is likely to be led past your Commander because you want cards that synergize with them.

However, at that place are yet several different ways you lot tin choose your Commander in the first identify, and the type of deck y'all create. Consider these different deck theme types for some inspiration. The power level of your deck isn't everything. It's as well about what's fun for you to play!

Creatures

Lathliss, Dragon Queen card art. Artist: Alex Konstad.

Your deck could revolve around a particular creature type such as goblins, dragons or rogues. With tribal decks, at that place are oftentimes plenty of opportunities for cards that boost every other creature of that type. Meliorate accept some counters ready!

Spells

Instead of focussing on creatures, you could favor spells. For example, your deck could contain lots of enchantments and artifacts to boost a relatively low number of creatures. The interesting Arm for Boxing preconstructed Commander deck revolves effectually boosting the commander with lots of auras and equipment.

Mechanics

Your deck could be built effectually a cardinal mechanic like doing damage to a player whenever one of your creatures deals combat damage. Or your deck could make interesting use of the exile mechanic to remove and render creatures to play for bonuses such every bit creating flying beast tokens like the Phantom Premonition deck does.

Abilities

If you really enjoy item abilities like vigilance or hexproof, then why non build a deck effectually a combination of them? You could build the deck around simply one, but a mixture of a few volition make your deck stand up better against different commander players.

Decklists

You lot could become inspired by looking at other Commander player's MTG decklists on places similar TCGPlayer. That's not to say y'all'll copy their decks exactly, but they can be fantastic for getting ideas. Take a browse and see which ones look like fun to you.

You could fifty-fifty look up the decklists of previous tournament-winning decks for ideas.

Once you lot've decided on your theme, it's time to decide what to put in your deck! In the next section, I'll get through the key card types and place what to look for when deciding what cards to put in your Commander deck.

What Should Be in a MTG Commander Deck?

100 cards is a good number of cards to play with, so yous tin take a good mix of unlike types of card in your deck. Cards in a Commander deck can generally exist sorted into the following types.

Win Conditions

Beginning things starting time, you need to know how you plan on winning Commander games. Whether you intend on drawing all the cards in your deck and playing Thassa'southward Oracle or building a huge army of creatures and attacking everyone the old-fashioned way, yous should have 1 (or more) plans on winning the game.

Oftentimes, your commander will be role of your win status. Niv-Mizzet, Parun is a very pop commander because he has an infinite combo with Curiosity. With both cards on the battlefield, you lot tin describe every bit many cards as you desire and deal that much impairment. Two-card combos are hard to pull off because yous need both cards at the same time, but when i of those cards is your commander, you'll always take at least i of those cards at the ready!

However, Commander is a singleton format, significant you can only put one of each card in your deck. To get around this restriction, it's a good idea to play fill-in cards that are functionally like to your win condition.

The Niv-Mizzet, Parun deck I mentioned earlier wouldn't be that great if information technology only worked whenever you drew Curiosity. However, Niv-Mizzet, Parun also combos with Ophidian Eye and Tandem Lookout. While these combo pieces cost more mana than Curiosity and essentially do the same thing, including them greatly increases your chances of drawing your win condition.

Including functionally redundant cards in your deck isn't the only style to improve your chances of drawing your win condition. This takes the states to our next department…

Tutors

In Magic, a tutor is a bill of fare that allows you to search your library for another card and either put it in your paw or at the top of your library.

In a format where you can only play i of each carte and where there are 99 cards in your library, your chances of drawing the verbal card yous need are slim. With a healthy number of tutors in your deck, your games will generally be more consistent.

Cards like Purple Seal and Demonic Tutor are typical examples. Muddle the Mixture's transmute power technically makes it a tutor too.

How many tutors in a Commander deck?

As for how many tutors you should play, I say play as many as you can! Obviously, we'd all love to just draw the perfect carte each turn, but anyone who'southward played a game of Magic knows that inappreciably ever happens. The more tutors you lot play, the more probable y'all are to go your easily on the menu y'all need.

Mana Ramp

Chances are that every deck y'all're playing against will be running powerful win conditions. In these scenarios, games aren't decided on whose win condition is the all-time so much as who pulls of their win condition get-go.

This is where mana ramp comes in. Without mana ramp, y'all're restricted to playing one land per turn. If you want to play a five-mana carte, yous'll accept to wait until plow five to do then assuming you draw enough lands.

With mana ramp, you can achieve this much before. When yous play cards like Farseek and Birds of Paradise, you can play your 5- and half dozen-mana cards as early as turn iv or even turn iii!

Mana ramp cards can be broken downwardly into a few categories:

Mana dorks

First, we have what players refer to every bit "mana dorks." These are one-mana creatures that can tap for one mana. Some of the more well-known ones are Birds of Paradise, Deathrite Shaman, and Arbor Elf. What'south then great about them is that they tin can exist played on plow one, so you can showtime ramping upwardly towards your win condition equally soon as the game starts. Most mana dorks are light-green, so keep that in listen when choosing what colors y'all want your deck to include.

Mana rocks

Side by side, nosotros accept "mana rocks." These are artifacts that tin tap for mana, similar Sol Ring, Cabalistic Signet, and Fellwar Rock. Mana rocks come up in all shapes and sizes, but not all mana rocks are created equal. My philosophy is that if information technology costs two or less mana and can tap for mana right away, so it's good enough for me. Since mana rocks are artifacts and thus impose very few color restrictions, you can wait them to be in any type of deck.

Miscellaneous

Finally, we've got, well, everything else. Let'due south phone call it the miscellaneous category. Farseek counts as mana ramp, but so does Dockside Extortionist, and those are two very different cards. Pyretic Ritual is also a grade of mana ramp, although it but works when you cast it. Feel free to exist creative when planning on how to cast your powerful spells before than your opponents look.

How many mana ramp cards in a Commander deck?

If you want to talk numbers, I'd say 8-10 pieces of mana ramp is a practiced number to aim for, merely that's very arbitrary. Simply think that the more expensive your cards are (mana-wise), the more mana ramp y'all'll need.

Card Advantage

Card Shark MTG carte art. (C) Wizards of the Coast. Artist Randy Elliot.

Card reward basically ways having more cards in hand than your opponents. Not but does having more cards in manus decrease the likelihood of you lot running out of things to play, but it as well gives you lot a wider range of options for your turn.

Card advantage comes in virtually all forms, whether that'south creatures, enchantments, artifacts, or other spells. Rhystic Study is a course of card advantage because it will draw you several cards over the course of the game.

You could as well make use of the graveyard recursion mechanic to return useful cards from graveyards to the battlefield, your paw or the top of your library, effectively giving y'all more card options.

Value-based commanders are usually sources of menu reward in and of themselves. When your commander is capable of drawing cards for yous, this limits the need to include multiple sources of bill of fare advantage in your deck.

Nevertheless, if yous're playing a commander that doesn't generate value, such as Kaalia, the Vast, you'll definitely want to include many means of cartoon actress cards.

How many sources of card reward in a Commander deck?

How many sources of card advantage are good for your deck really differs on a case-by-instance basis. My advice is to play a few games and observe if y'all oft run out of cards to play. If that's the case, then y'all might want to add together more than sources of card reward.

Removals

Single target

In four-player formats similar Commander, single-target removal (similar Vindicate) becomes less popular than in two-player formats. This is because as the number of players increases, the number of creatures on the battlefield generally increases as well. Removing creatures (or other permanents) i at a time becomes quite the hassle!

That's not to say that single-target removal is bad in Commander. Having a copy of Swords to Plowshares or Precipitous Disuse in your deck is generally a good idea. Merely brand sure non to go overboard with it.

Board wipes

Board wipes, on the other mitt, are great in Commander. Nosotros're talking about Wrath of God, Merciless Eviction, Cyclonic Rift, and other such cards. Oftentimes, in that location will be dozens of creatures, artifacts, and enchantments on the battlefield.

Removing them one at a time with cards similar Assassin's Trophy won't really be possible, but if yous pay a bit more mana and cast something like Cyclonic Rift for its overload price, then all your bug will exist taken care of with but ane card.

How many removals in a Commander deck?

10-12 removals across your deck. Of those, a scattering of single-target removal spells is all you need. Information technology's the same with boardwipes, I wouldn't become overboard. Subsequently all, you lot want to get out plenty space in your deck for all that other stuff we talked almost!

Lands

Building a skillful manabase in Commander can be tricky. I've mentioned earlier that playing many colors in your deck is good because you lot'll have access to more cards. While that is true, playing several colors ways that you'll have to put actress effort into building your manabase if y'all desire to exist able to cast all your cards consistently.

The full general idea here is to play lands that tap for as many colors of mana equally possible. There are plenty of lands out there, but the best ones come into play untapped so they can tap for mana right away. Here are some of the best lands for Commander.

Command Tower: This might exist the best land to play in Commander. Information technology comes into play untapped and volition tap for whatsoever color y'all need. The best lands are usually quite expensive (money-wise), but Control Tower is dirt cheap, so it's a great pick even if yous're on a budget. The only time I wouldn't include this is if I was playing a 1-color deck.

Metropolis of Brass, Mana Confluence, Exotic Orchard, Forbidden Orchard, and Gemstone Caverns: are all functionally similar to Command Tower, only they come with slight downsides and restrictions. If the downsides are depression enough, then they're nevertheless swell picks.

Dual lands

Dual lands (Volcanic Island, Stomping Basis, Morphic Pool…): Unfortunately, there aren't enough lands out in that location that tin can tap for all the colors you lot demand at in one case. Dual lands are notwithstanding great because they can produce two mana colors, and if your deck only runs two or three colors, then chances are it'll exist able to cast most of the cards in your hand.

Fetch lands

Fetch lands (Polluted Delta, Bloodstained Mire, Flooded Strand…): Fetch lands work great in conjunction with dual lands because they can fetch the dual land of your choice direct from your library. If y'all've already played a few lands and you're just missing a colour or ii to cast everything in your paw, fetch lands will fix that for you. They can also search for basic lands and triome lands (such as Ketria Triome), giving your manabase that extra bit of flexibility.

How many lands in a Commander deck?

You generally want between xxx-40 lands in a Commander deck including basic and special lands. The exact number of lands that'southward right for your deck you'll effigy out through playtesting.

The perfect corporeality of country for your deck depends on a few factors. Start, consider the mana costs of each card in your deck. If you're playing a lot of cards that price five or more mana, then having a high number of lands (36-40) would be a good idea. If you more often than not play cards that cost 4 or less mana, then you might be able to become away with only running 30-35 lands.

In addition, how much mana ramp you include in your deck will affect how many lands you desire to play. Because decks running a lot of cheap mana ramp will be less reliant on their lands to cast their spells, those will tend to run fewer lands.

Once once more, I propose you playtest your deck a few times and notice if yous often take too much or likewise niggling mana. Playtesting is always the all-time fashion to discover the best residual of cards.

MTG Commander Deck-building Template / Ratio

All correct. Nosotros've merely gone over the most important card types, and then allow'due south put this all together, shall we? Hither's a rough idea of the number cards of each type:

• ane Commander – The fable themselves that synergizes wonderfully with your deck!
• 35-40 lands – Remember to factor in the average mana cost of cards in your deck as well every bit how much mana ramp you're playing.
• viii-10 mana ramp effects – Remember of this as a way to supplement your country base. If you play 40 lands and 10 mana ramp effects, that ways half of your deck is mana, leaving little room for the other stuff. Aim to strike a prissy balance between lands and mana ramp furnishings.
• 8-12 card advantage effects – Bill of fare advantage ordinarily means card draw, but cards that allow you to recast spells from your graveyard are too examples of bill of fare advantage. If your commander itself is a source of card advantage, and then y'all can get away with a lower number here.
• ten-12 removal spells – This includes both targeted removal and board wipes. Most decks run a bit more than targeted removal than lath wipes since they're cheaper and more versatile.
• That leaves yous with 30-35 cards that will help you lot enact your game plan. These cards include tutors to detect your key cards, the central cards themselves, and any supporting elements to meliorate your chances of winning. This is where the true soul of your deck shines through.

Remember, these are guidelines, not rules. Y'all may detect that the optimal numbers for your deck are completely different from this template!

The main affair to recollect is to find cards that have synergy with each other to help you accomplish your win status.

Building a MTG Commander deck on a Upkeep

Treasure Cove card art. Copyright Wizards of the Declension. Artist: Cliff Childs.

Buying Magic cards for your deck can be expensive, especially if you have to buy 100 of them! Fortunately, you don't take to spend ridiculous amounts of money to afford a fun and competitive Commander deck. Here are some ways to reduce the price of your deck:

Run Fewer Colors

The best lands for Commander (and all Magic formats every bit a whole) tend to be expensive. Some players end upward spending hundreds if non thousands of dollars on lands alone just for a single deck. Obviously, you lot have to be a pretty serious player to make this kind of investment, but not all of usa can afford to spend that kind of money.

Decks that run only i or ii colors tin can take more basic lands in their manabase than decks that run up of iii colors. Bones lands are super inexpensive, and y'all probably have plenty of them already, and then replacing those expensive lands with basics volition work wonders in helping your budget.

All the same, I'd similar to warn y'all about the dangers of running all basic lands in a multicolor deck. Decks that incorporate three or more colors and only accept basic lands oft struggle to find the right lands to bandage their cards. If you lot desire to play a lot of basic lands, I seriously would advise building a deck that just runs one or two colors.

Play Unconventional Combos

The law of supply and demand teaches us that every bit demand for a product increases, so does the price. This applies to MTG cards too. If your deck plays all the about popular cards, and so that deck volition probably exist expensive.

My favorite solution to this is to come up with fun, never-earlier-seen combos. Because many of the cards in a new philharmonic deck aren't super well known, well-nigh of them volition be cheap to larn.

This method does require quite a chip of card research besides equally time to test out new ideas. Many of them may non work, but when you stumble beyond an idea that turns out to exist super powerful, you'll have the satisfaction of having created something new and original.

Accept a scan at TCGPlayer and sort the cards by price to find cheap cards to inspire you!

Upgrading Your Commander Deck

Powerstone Shard card art. Copyright Wizards of the Declension. Artist: Lindsey Look.

A great Magic Commander deck is seldom built in one sitting. Nobody e'er gets it correct on the start try, and some players may take months or fifty-fifty years for their deck to be simply how they want it.

Whether you lot've increased your budget or Magic released a new set with some cool new cards, yous may want to upgrade your Commander deck over time.

I would showtime look out for cards that have strictly improve versions of them bachelor. If you're playing Diabolic Tutor, which costs four mana, I would supersede it with Demonic Tutor, which does the same thing for only two mana. If you're playing Cancel, which costs three mana, I'd supercede information technology with Counterspell, which costs two. You become the idea…

Lands are also a neat place to await for upgrades. If you're running a lot of bones lands or lands that enter the battlefield tapped, this is an opportunity to make your deck more streamlined and consistent.

Beyond that, it's generally a matter of making better card choices. Sometimes, I expect at a card and think, "wow, this volition be keen for my Commander deck!" Then I really play it, and it doesn't practice a whole lot. Playing a lot of games with the same deck will help you acquire which of your cards are overperforming and which ones are underperforming. So, when it comes to adding a new card to your deck, you lot'll have an easy time deciding which cards to supplant.

Conclusion – How to Build an MTG Commander Deck

As you can see, quite a scrap of thought needs to go into edifice an MTG Commander deck, especially if it's your offset. That being said, it'southward a fun experience, and it just gets more fun over fourth dimension (at least information technology does for me).

So, don't let the 100-carte deck size or all the new rules scare you. Get alee and try building a Magic Commander deck for yourself! Trust me, you lot won't regret it. Existence a Commander player is crawly!

If you haven't already read my commodity on building a standard 60-card MTG deck, get ahead and give it a read! It'll teach yous the deckbuilding basics you lot need and might even help you lot with your Commander deck!

More Magic: The Gathering Manufactures

• How to Build an MTG Deck – Beginner's Guide!
• How Many Cards in a MTG Deck? MTG Deck Size
• MTG Evergreen Keywords List
• Sideboards in MTG: All You Need To Know!
• MTG Counter
• MTG Counter (Markers)
• MTG Deathtouch
• MTG Defender
• MTG Double Strike
• MTG Enchant
• MTG Equip
• MTG Fright
• MTG Fight
• MTG Kickoff Strike
• MTG Flash
• MTG Flying
• MTG Haste
• MTG Hexproof
• MTG Indestructible
• MTG Intimidate
• MTG Lifelink
• MTG Menace
• MTG Protection
• MTG Prowess
• MTG Reach
• MTG Regenerate
• MTG Sacrifice
• MTG Shroud
• MTG Tap and Untap
• MTG Trample
• MTG Vigilance
• MTG Ward

Emily
Hi, I'one thousand Emily, the tabletop gamer backside My Kind of Meeple. If this article helped you, I'd exist honoured if y'all'd say, "Thank you!" with a £iii coffee on Ko-fi.

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