MTG: Top Five EDH – Blue Commanders
Ah, Blue; the only color that can turn a four-player card game into Solitaire. Let’s talk EDH Blue Commanders.
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, tune an existing one, or build up your first library from scratch.
Blue is the color of intellect, logic, and control on the MTG color wheel. Creatures from Blue usually fly or have some kind of evasion, and they often net you a card or two. However, the power of Blue isn’t what it CAN do; it’s what it makes sure your opponent CAN’T. Blue gives you extra turns, card draw like an UNO player, and the dreaded Counter magic. It probably isn’t the best color to play if you want a friendly game, but in the mage-eat-mage world of Magic, these five are the top of the Blue Wave.
Urza, Lord High Artificer
Starting strong, we have not only one of the most famous Blue cards but one of the most famous characters in all of Magic lore. Urza, Lord High Artificer can do it all; he makes a creature, can generate mana, and can sling spells for free. There’s so much spell fetching in Blue, and artifacts are one of the easiest things to generate quickly or cheat out for free. Throw in a few thopters, some vehicles, and a bit of creative spellwork, and you’ll have a board capable of smashing your opponent in no time. Just don’t be surprised if you get hated off the table at instant speed.
Orvar, the All-Form
The only thing Blue loves more than countering spells is copying them, and Orvar is one of the best. Whenever you target one of your permanents with a spell, you get to copy that permanent. In a color that loves to sling cheap spells around, you can easily duplicate some of your scariest cards with just a little effort. Orvar is also every creature type, so he slots into any typal and gets all the benefits like Wizard draw or the less popular Sphinx council.
Minn, Wily Illusionist
I will be fully candid; this is my favorite Commander on this list. Blue loves to draw extra cards, and Minn gives you a creature token every time you do. Even better, that creature gets a little bigger the more cards you have in hand. Once you have a hand full of power, you can sacrifice one of your Illusions to cheat a nasty permanent into play. I’m honestly surprised she isn’t higher in the ranking, but I guess it’s hard to beat Urza. I don’t care, though; she’s still my favorite and a nasty little trickster to show a more aggro side of Blue.
Talrand, Sky Summoner
Back to the spell-slinging grind, we have the Merfolk Wizard Talrand, who just wants to unleash an army of tiny sea dragons. Every time you cast an instant or sorcery, you get a 2/2 Drake token with flying. Blue has a ton of cheap casting tricks, so you’ll have a sky army before your opponent has time to blink. If you have something that can clear the field (you should) you can eliminate your enemy in just a few turns. Be the terrifying water wizard you’ve always wanted to be.
Bruvac the Grandiloquent
One of the most hated playstyles in Magic is deck destruction, and this is the monocolored gentleman for the job. He can empty your opponent’s library with surprising speed, and if they don’t have recursion, they’ll have to watch their best-laid plans melt into the magical aether. This is a KoS Commander for me, and honestly, it probably should be for everyone else.
