MTG: New Year, New Commander – Quickstart Commanders
It’s a brand new year, and that means it’s time to craft a powerful new Commander deck for your game nights.
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. You use a deck of 100 cards led by a legendary creature, aka, 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.
Happy 2024, everyone! With another year behind us, it’s time to look forward to what’s next, and that’s…more Commander! Just like anything else, you don’t want your games to get stale, so you’ll want to construct new decks, or maybe even build your first one! If you’re new to the hobby, welcome. We’re happy to have you. Check out the handy guide linked above for tips on how to play. Whether you’re a veteran or a total beginner, these five Commanders are a great way to start a new deck without too much difficulty.
Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm
This is one of my personal favorite decks, and, thankfully also one of my most straightforward. Miirym and friends want to play as many Dragons as possible, then double up on them while she’s on the battlefield. There aren’t too many bells and whistles required to make this deck pop off, but you can make it go absolutely crazy once you’re a little more comfortable. Solid starter cards I recommend are Ganax, Astral Hunter, Dragonspeaker Shaman, and Scaled Nurturer. From there, just load up with Dragons and Clones.
Hakbal of the Surging Soul
Another one of my favorite Commanders, and probably one of the easiest to build, Hakbal lets you unleash a Merfolk torrent on your enemies. He doesn’t need much work, just get him on the field and let him cook. Even better, he’s a Precon Commander, so you can play him straight out of the box to get a feel of how he works. Once you’ve played a few rounds, add a few closers like Raise the Palisade or Overrun and watch the fish fly.
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Yet another typal Commander (and another from my personal deck box), Lathril is another surprisingly point-and-click Commander. All you need for her to go absolutely ham is a few Elf tokens, and there are SO many avenues to Elf tokens that you’re spoiled for choice. She also has a Precon, but it’s a bit older, so it might be pricey. Still, it will give you all the tools you need to start the Elven Ambush, and then you can add in some power cards like Elvish Warmaster and Galadriel, Gift-Giver to maintain Elf superiority.
What do you think of these commanders?
