In roughly one week we’ll see the release of Wizard of the Coasts’ Commander. As I spoke of previously, this product is one of their most promising summer multi-player releases. However, I won’t waste time reviewing. Instead I’ll assume you are doing what you should be: buying it.
Good. Now, we have work to do.
Although Wizards have taken great strides towards creating powerful and compelling off-the-shelf constructed decks, they do not just hand everything to the player. A large part of the game is making your own custom deck. For every card that Wizards is sure to include, there will be an equally powerful one that you are going to need to go out of your way to pick up in the name of “the perfect manifestation of your deck.” No matter what color, there are going to be Commander staples that you are going to want; despite the size of the card pool there are some cards that have no rival. There are also a number of cards that are guaranteed not to be in the Commander decks. Some of these cards are absolute must-haves and I urge you to consider such an investment.
Originally, I had planned on the first article I wrote about this product to include comprehensive breakdowns of each deck, what it needed and what it was missing. However, due to the way Wizards has decided to release this product, there will not be nearly enough time before release to provide such a comprehensive guide. My new mission is to provide you with a breakdown of some of the top budget cards for each color that you will surely need to invest in after picking up your Commander pre-constructed deck. For the purpose of this breakdown, I have defined the budget per color to be $50 total between your Commander purchase and these cards. This is not to say you need all these cards, however, I interviewed several players and they all agreed that $50 was a fair line to be drawn; especially in the game of Magic.
Jolly, Green and Giant
Traditionally, Green has been a very strong color in Commander. The most efficient mana-ramping combined with some of the toughest creatures ever printed makes Green a real force of nature… Yeah, I just did that… If you have opted to run green in your Commander deck you’ll find that you often outclass your opponents in the early and mid game and will supplement your other colors much more easily than many of the other colors of Magic.
Rampant Growth, Sakura-tribe Elder*, Farseek, Kodama’s Reach*, Cultivate*, Nature’s Lore.
In order to properly progress through the game you are going to want acceleration. The best accelerants for the job are going to be some combination of the afformentioned cards.It seems unlikely that Wizards will not include at least one of these fine cards in every single one of the Pre-constructed decks that runs green but if for some reason they don’t, you’re looking at a total investment of $3.25 for the bundle… Pretty steep!
This classic (and classy) enchantment, from the years just after the game’s conception, is an absolute powerhouse in Commander. Sylvan Library not only lets you look at the top of your deck, but for the menial cost of 1/5 your life total in Commander, you are able to start drawing at speeds that would make a Blue Mage cry “nerf”. In fact, this card is so efficient in Commander that I can count the times on one hand that I have not payed 8 life a turn to fill my hand back to 7 thanks to this beauty. One of the priciest of our green brethren at roughly $7.00, I find it hard to believe this should be anything but the first purchase all of you green mages make after buying your commander deck.
Wickerbough Elder, Indrik Stomphowler, Acidic Slime
Behold the power of green! If it isn’t a creature it is not safe! These powerful toolbox creatures are the pinnacle of mid game utility in an efficient beater shell. The best part about these beauties, they each fill their own little niche depending on the deck shell you wish to put it in. Want to combat Infect? Wickerbough. Want it to come into play make a mark and then a crater in your opponent’s defenses? Indrik Stomphowler. Want your opponent to make an unfavorable trade? Acidic Slime. Regardless of the body you pick, you won’t be disappointed when you run these bad boys, especially when you find out they only cost an average of $0.25 each!
Well since we’re basically through the basics of green and I haven’t even touched the floor of my budget I’ll add this little beauty in here. Let me tell you, at a price of $4.00 this uncommon is really pushing it too! Eternal Witness is plain and simple the best mana investment you can make in Commander. The card is always exactly what you want when you want it. Looking for one more copy of that devastating Tooth and Nail? Bingo. Looking to get out of control in a hurry? You just net Witness and whatever came before. Fair card, amirite?
Seeing Red
While utilizing red, you’ll often be wielding powerful but more unreliable spells than the other colors of the pie. Burn, one of the main strengths of red, is simply not good enough in most incarnations so you are going to have to utilize more unique means if you are to be successful.
Red is a fickle mistress; nothing displays this better than Wheel of Fortune. For an efficient 3 mana you are getting a new hand of 7 at the cost of each of your opponents gaining one as well. Wait, is it a cost? Forcing your opponents to draw a new 7 potentially can ruin their plans, messing up combos they had already partially put in place and forcing them to ditch cards that they had preemptively tutored for. Similarly, it is always advantageous to give all the non-blue decks extra cards to combat control players. That is the glory of the Wheel, a deceptive card that create some absurd swings are just give you a fighting chance against a titan at the table. There is a reason it is at the heftiest of our budget red cards at $10.00.
Wild Ricochet*, Ricochet Trap, Reiterate
Who cares about countering spells when you can just control them for your opponent? Here are three iterations of red’s famous forking power. These three each offer you a cheap (ranging from $0.25 to $1.00) way to alter the stack in ways that will have control, aggro and combo players alike more than a little concerned to play spells liberally. It will never feel soooo gooood to Wild Ricochet a targeted draw spell, draw 8 cards and all on your opponent’s turn.
Ingot Chewer, Shattering Pulse, Rack and Ruin, Shattering Spree
The last of the trinity of red’s strength: artifact hate. Artifacts are one of the most widely played permanents behind Lands and tied with creatures in Commander. Being able to just ruin them at every turn is a really important part of playing red. There are tens of hundreds of different removal in red styled in various ways depending on the type of deck you wish to play. What I have listed above is merely a collective of the most popular or efficient ones (not to say all the most popular and efficient are listed). Ranging from $0.25 to $2.00, there really isn’t a reason to not pick up at least one to two of these bad boys.
The Cleaning Power of White
I’ve avoided it long enough. Now I have to explain to you why white, not black is the most efficient at board control in Magic. Maybe if I just keep talking you won’t ask questions and just skip ahead to the card lists. Still here? Damn. Alright so the short and long of it is that for whatever reason, despite black seeing more creature removal printed it always has some sort of clause such as “non-black” or “non-artifact”. White not only is non-discriminate on what it kills but does so much faster than black. I’m sure white does other stuff too but that isn’t important… right? Guys?
Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile*
This is what I’m talking about. This is the most mana efficient, powerful, removal in the game; for one simple white mana, you have not only taken their creature out of play, you have put it farther out of reach than anything short of a tuck effect. There is virtually no drawback to these spells. The life doesn’t matter. The land doesn’t matter (any time you cast it early enough that it grants a distinct advantage it is warranted by the power of the creature you are removing). These cards do exactly what you need them to do: handle a problem. A simple answer for a simple $4.00.
Creatures aren’t the only thing that matters in Magic. This is especially true in Commander. Return to Dust and Purify handle those true pain-in-the-library spells that you just need gone now. The fact that it sweeps multiple spells is only a bonus. $0.50 later you are down a problem and up virtual card advantage. Let them play permanents, they mean nothing when you have all the answers.
Wrath of God, Day of Judgement
There isn’t a whole lot to say without reiterating the important things. 2:1’s good. Enemy creatures bad. At a table of 3-4 people you’re going to gain value by playing these (each player is likely going to want their own creatures and handle the table in a balanced way rarely puts any large amount of dedicated ire your way (hense these are excellent for keeping yourself alive while being diplomatic). You’re looking at a mere $7.00 for the pair ($5.00 and $2.00 respectively).
All I See Is Black (Oh wait, my hood is down)
Black plays an interesting role in Commander; it is not the role of board control or the role of hand denial but instead a role of aggressive spells and consistency. The requirement of life towards a spell’s cost is generally considered a cost, not in Commander where it is a trivial matter to pay anywhere in the range of 8 life in a turn. Black highlights this truth like no other color. If you are looking for a snowballing advantage that will put you on top of most tables, black is for you.
In Commander, your life points are trivial. Nothing highlights this fact better than these two cards. A 1:1 transaction of life for cards will push you over the edge in a matter of turns. The only thing to keep in mind is the life are only as good as the cards you draw so you better draw business before you draw the table upon you. To best run these cards, supplement them with good table politics and you’ll end the game before anyone knows what happened. Neither of these cards should run you more than $4.00, well worth the investment given the pure power they award you.
What is more ridiculous than one Necropotence in a deck? Three. With this pair of tutors, every card in your deck now effectively is a three-of. This means when you need a card, the probability of that card is now three times more likely… In a format of one-ofs you are now playing the numbers. Nothing is stronger than that. Unfortunately, Vampiric tutor has spiked in price recently so it is pushing the line of the budget on its own. Demonic tutor runs you a simple $10.00, however, Vampiric is encroaching on $20.00.
Singing the Blues
Oh Blue, you’re such a subtle little horror, hiding behind your islands… You aren’t fooling anyone. The power of Blue comes from its powerful tools at efficient costs combined with counterspells!!! Yes, everyone’s favorite mechanic: the ability to negate your opponent’s plays entirely. The cards listed below will provide you with a basis to create a blue devil capable of setting any plan into motion with little to no real trouble. The important thing to remember is that these do not make a deck on their own, they only enable your deck to get where it needs to go.
Hailed by many as the most skill-intensive card in the entirety of Magic, there are a lot of good reasons to play Brainstorm. The short and simple explanation is that Brainstorm does indeed draw you three cards. You get all three cards, you keep what you want, put back the rest. If the cards you put back are bad enough, you can utilize any number of shuffle effects to ship those cards away and not see them for a long time. Add in the extra protection to your hand against discard, the mana cost being absurdly low, and about a thousand other factors and you have yourself the best $2.00 card you ever did buy!
Blue business spells at their finest. Who cares what kind of threats your opponent can cast if you have one of these in your hand. For the purpose of not writing and linking twenty more spells, I just put a few examples of the many powerful and efficient counters that you have access to into Commander. The best part is, from the $0.15 that Negate costs to the $130.00 costs you, there are plenty of Counterspells available for any budget.
Mystical Tutor, Merchant Scroll
These are the tools of a planner. Blue offers a variety of different tutor spells that will allow you to sculpt a perfect hand for any situation conceivable. Mystical and Merchant Scroll support a more spell oriented deck but are just as valid in any strategy as there is always those one or two spells that just need to be casted. This is your insurance to see said cards. At $2.00-$4.00 we aren’t really hurting our budget either.
The Sol Artifact Worth Your Attention
Artifacts are the bread and butter which provides each and every Commander deck with that “little special something” to finish off their deck. There are literally thousands of options as far as playable artifacts depending on what your deck needs. There is only a handful that every deck needs. Among those handful, there is one card that every Commander veteran will tell you is card numero uno. The number one card to buy in every single deck is…
Short and simple, Sol Ring is the most powerful play you can make anywhere until the game has already run its course. I was prepared to write close to a page to motivate you to invest $20.00 in this artifact so that you too could experience the power that is the best card in all of Commander. However…
Luckily for you, as I am writing this, Wizards of the Coast has released… this. That is right, you no longer have to bomb $20.00 on this bad boy; if you buy a pre-constructed Commander deck, there is a Sol Ring in it. End of line.
The Coming Weeks
As I have iterated in past articles, we are in a fortunate time to pick up Commander. The game itself is about to explode in popularity even more-so than it has in the previous year (which is a lot). Take advantage of the decks that Wizards is putting out, invest in the additional cards you need, and join me in one of the most amazing Magic: The Gathering gaming experiences available. The decks promise to be playable right out of the box and the budget cards I have provided are only meant to provide insight on your next course of action should you wish to supplement your deck.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here, in PM, or at EPIC where I will be attempting to get some four player Commander pods going with anyone interested.
See you at EPIC!
*The following cards have been confirmed in one or more of the pre-constructed Commander decks. This does not make the wisdom on the cards selected above any less valid in Commander as a whole.
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