MTG: Top Five EDH – Simic (UG) Commanders
If your creatures aren’t strong enough to fight your opponents, just try a little science. After all, it worked for Frankenstein…right?
Welcome Planeswalkers and Praetors to our ongoing series about the best casual experience in Magic: Commander. For the uninitiated, Commander is a semi-casual format for Magic: the Gathering, where you use a deck of 100 cards led by a legendary creature, your Commander.
Aside from basic lands, you are only allowed one copy of each card in the deck. Moreover, you can only include cards in your Commander’s “color identity” or artifacts. Each color and color combo has a unique playstyle and a wealth of mighty generals to lead your deck to victory. EDHRec.com is a great source for Commander info and can give you ideas to build your next Commander deck or tune an existing one.
Simic is for players that don’t want to leave things like they are. They are about as far from the “natural” approach as possible. This isn’t to say they aren’t in tune with nature; you’d be hard-pressed to find more landfall triggers than in a Simic deck. It’s just that they prefer to…add to their creatures a little bit. Whether that’s through +1/+1 counters, token copies, or nasty enchantments, you’ll get the most out of your creatures if you twist them juuuuust a little.
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
At the top of the lineup is the scariest snake in the pool, if that pool is the ocean. Aesi gives you two of the most powerful advantages in Magic: land advantage or card advantage. Not only does the sinisiter serpent let you play an extra land every turn, but every time you play one, you get to draw a card. Add a few landfall triggers and you’ll be golden.
Volo, Guide to Monsters
As the master of monsters big and small, it makes sense that Volo likes to be surrounded by all types of critters. Volo rewards you for playing creatures of all types, and if you play a unique creature type, you get a token copy. Move over Elves and Merfolk, it’s time for Aurochs, Drakes, and Turtles to hit the field.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Like Winota from the Boros guide, Kinnan loves all things non-Human. In addition to doubling the mana that your creatures and rocks produce, he let’s you dig out a non-Human creature from your deck and shoot it straight to the battlefield. Dinosaurs, Elementals, and Dragons are a great choice for deck fillers with Kinnan, alongside a few mana producing Elves, Dryads, and Plants.
Adrix and Nev, Twincasters
Here’s a Simic trick question: what’s better than one token? Twice that many tokens! Adrix and Nev are here to make all your token army dreams come true, and they do it with style. The best part of all is they’re pretty difficult to shift thanks to their ward. Adrix and Nev aren’t just here for creatures, though. They can double your Clues, Treasures, and Food as well, making them the perfect addition to any of those decks.
Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief
Ivy isn’t the usual fare for Simic, but she has a nasty trick up her sleeve. Her ability says that whenever a spell targets anything else, if it CAN target her, then it does. That’s a bit of a double-edged sword, since she can get sniped. However, she does it to Auras too. That means that whenever you empower one of your other creatures, Ivy gets bigger as well. Ivy is a jealous leader, but she’s willing to take matters into her own hands.
