Building a 100-card singleton deck isn’t everyone’s idea of fun, even for some of the most dedicated Magic: The Gathering players, which is why Wizards of the Coast has been releasing pre-constructed Commander decks since 2011.
Of the many pre-con decks released in the last 15 years, we’ve selected a few of the best Commander decks that will be more than competitive during your games, and better still, you won’t need to purchase pricey upgrades or even change a single card; you can just shuffle up and play!
Explorers Of The Deep – The Lost Caverns Of Ixalan
This Merfolk deck is pretty par for the course in terms of the primary mechanics being flooding the board with lands and drawing cards, but the added threat of explore and the subsequent wave of +1/+1 counters triggered by Hakbal of the Surging Soul make this Commander pre-con a remarkably powerful deck.
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Commander Overview
Hakbal of the Surging Soul makes each Merfolk creature you own explore at the start of combat, meaning you reveal the top card of your library.
If they find a land, it goes into your hand; if not, they get a +1/+1 counter, and you can place the card in your graveyard or on top of your deck.
On top of this, when Hakbal of the Surging Soul attacks, you may place a land card from your hand onto the battlefield, but if you choose not to do this, you may draw a card instead.
Strategy
In short, the strategy for this Commander deck is to flood the board with land and mana sources as early as possible.
This will allow you to move on to the next phase, which is to get Merfolk creatures resolved on the battlefield, and then you can use the natural draw potential that comes with this deck to your advantage and cast enchantments to further strengthen them.
With Hakbal costing four mana (one blue, one green, plus two), it’s wise to make sure you have enough mana to cast and protect it if possible. If you’ve built up a solid board when casting your Commander, you’re sure to become a target for the other three players pretty quickly, so protecting your Commander avoids the casting tax from ramping up too early in the game.
Your win conditions are likely to be either swinging at your opponents with buff Merfolk until their life total hits zero, or you can try to sneakily win using Simic Ascendency, which wins you the game once it hits 20 counters.
Notable Cards
Here are some of the cards you’ll want to keep an eye out for:
- Deeproot Elite
- Master of the Pearl Trident
- Merfolk Skydiver
- Nicanzil, Current Conductor
- Thieving Skydiver
- Inspiring Call
- Bygone Marvels
- Deeproot Waters
- Hardened Scales
Value
Given that this deck was only released in late 2023, the deck’s total value hasn’t blown up, with it being worth $66.48 at the time of writing, with most of this attributed to the $9.09 value of Kindred Discovery and the $8.98 value of Adrix and Nev, Twincasters.
The only other cards with a value of over $1 are:
- Evolution Sage – $2.09
- Thassa, God of the Sea – $1.84
- Alandra, Sky Dreamer – $1.76
- Herald of Secret Streams – $3.93
- Coma, Cosmos Serpent – $2.25
- Ripples of Potential – $1.58
- Wave Goodbye – $3.98
- Sol Ring – $1.44
- Swiftfoot Boots – $1.67
- Hardened Scales – $1.70
- Branching Evolution – $3.59
- Karn’s Bastion – $1.65
Animated Army – Bloomburrow
This red-green deck is all about swinging in at your opponents with huge creatures, while the Commander, Bello, Bard of the Brambles, turns some of your enchantments and artifacts into 4/4 elementals with haste and the ability to let you draw cards if they hit your opponents.
Commander Overview
Bello, Bard of the Brambles, is a raccoon bard who can turn your non-aura enchantments and non-equipment artifacts into 4/4 elementals with indestructible, haste, and the ability to draw a card when dealing damage to other players.
Strategy
Similar to the previous deck, Animated Army is all about building up an intimidating board presence and swinging freely at your opponents.
Most of your creatures are quite costly to cast out right, with only five of the 21 costing two mana, and the most expensive costing 12 in total, although this cost can be reduced.
The caveat to this is the ability of your Commander, who turns certain enchantments and artifacts into 4/4 elementals on your turn. This protects them from board wipes on your opponent’s turns, and means it will take targeted artifact/enchantment removal to get rid of them, which isn’t something every deck is flush with.
Notable Cards
Here are some of the main threats in this Commander deck:
- Warstorm Surge
- Domri, Anarch of Bolas
- Tendershoot Dryad
- Ghalta, Primal Hunger
- Strago and Relm
- Unnatural Growth
- Esika’s Chariot
- Bootleggers’ Stash
- Rampaging Baloths
Value
Having only been released in August 2024, this Commander deck hasn’t really seen its monetary value grow, being worth $56.74 at the time of writing.
The most valuable card in the deck is Lotus Cobra, which is worth $7.24, and only two other cards are worth more than $3, those being Alchemist’s Talent at $4.12 and Greater Good at $3.99.
The remaining cards in the Animated Army deck with a value over $1 are:
- Bello, Bard of the Brambles – $1.07
- Tendershoot Dryad – $3.45
- Kodama of the East Tree – $2.51
- Blasphemous Act – $1.27
- Sol Ring – $1.44
- Thought Vessel – 1.64
- Thran Dynamo – $2.84
- Gilded Lotus – $1.03
- Unnatural Growth – $2.00
Revival Trance – Final Fantasy
This Final Fantasy VI deck isn’t to be underestimated just because it’s part of a themed set, because it’s surprisingly effective and fun to play, all while providing some super fun revival opportunities, provided that your graveyard doesn’t get targeted.
Using the Mardu mana combination of red, black, and white, this deck focuses heavily on bringing cards back from your graveyard for a second chance at doing damage to your opponents, and the Commander even mills two cards every turn to try and put some spicy creatures in there for them to bring to the battlefield later in your turn.
Commander Overview
The Commander of this deck is Terra, Herald of Hope, who mills two cards at the beginning of combat on your turn, and they also gain flying until the end of your turn.
When combat damage is dealt by Terra, you may pay two mana to return a creature with three or less power from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
Strategy
This deck is all about utilizing creatures until your opponents get rid of them for good via exile. Terra will be milling two cards each turn, which gives you the chance to bring some important creatures onto the battlefield.
You’ll want to prioritize your most effective creatures whenever possible, so focus on cards like General Leo Cristophe, Sigfried, Famed Swordsman, and Gogo, Mysterious Mime.
These creatures all have abilities that can massively impact your board state, forcing your opponents to target them each time they return to the battlefield.
Notable Cards
Here are some of the main threats in this precon deck:
- General Leo Cristophe
- Kefka, Dancing Mad
- Cyan, Vengeful Samurai
- Stitch Together
- Ruinous Ultimatum
- Rise of the Dark Realms
- Rejoin the Fight
- Anger
Value
Despite its popularity, this deck currently costs around $78 if you were to buy the cards separately, with less than 15 cards costing over $1.
The most expensive card in the deck is Renimate at $8.95, followed by Rise of the Dark Realms at $4.38 and Gogo, Mysterious Mime at $3.49.
Here are all the remaining cards that will set you back over $1.
- The Warring Triad – $1
- Anger – $1.34
- Pitiless Plunderer – $2.59
- Big Score – $1.09
- Ruinous Ultimatum – $1
- Sol Ring – $1.46
- Swiftfoot Boots – $1.95
- Talisman of Indulgence – $2.42
- Graven Cairns – $2.54
- High Market – $1.09
- Sulfurous Springs – $1.45
Food And Fellowship – The Lord Of The Rings
The Lord of the Rings Universes Beyond crossover didn’t bleed over into Standard and instead landed straight in Modern, but the Food and Fellowship Commander pre-con more than made up for its absence in the primary competitive format.
This deck is built around the food mechanic, and it is finely balanced to ensure you’re always gaining health while draining the life source of your opponents.
Commander Overview
You actually get two Commanders with this deck, thanks to the partner mechanic, although this is a slightly more restrictive version, as cards may only partner with cards named in the rules text. This still allows you to have two Commanders rather than one, and thanks to the tight theming of this deck, they work together extremely well.
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit is a 1/3 creature with vigilance that largely revolves around the Ring tempt mechanic, which sees varying impacts on the ring-bearer, which are detailed on the Ring emblem card. The Ring only tempts Frodo when he attacks and if three or more life has been gained during that turn. If Frodo is the Ring-bearer, and you’ve been tempted more than two or more times, you may draw a card.
As for Sam, Lotal Attendant, he is a 2/4 creature that creates a food token at the beginning of combat on your turn. He also makes food tokens cost one less mana to activate.
Strategy
This is a very self-contained deck, meaning that it largely plays well out of the box because it’s hyper-focused on very specific mechanics that are part of the story that the deck is telling. That’s not to say upgrades can’t be made, but they would have to be perfect so as not to detract from the overall synergy.
The Food and Fellowship deck is all about creating food tokens and using abilities to gain life while using some very powerful creatures and spells to keep your opponent’s health heading towards zero.
Notable Cards
Here are some of the biggest threats in the Food and Fellowship precon deck:
- Rosie Cotton of South Lane
- Mirkwood Bats
- Savvy Hunter
- Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles
- Motivated Pony
- Crypt Incursion
- Toxic Deluge
- Field-Tested Frying Pan
- Well of Lost Dreams
Value
Overall, the Food and Fellowship deck is worth around $80 right now if you were to buy the cards as singles.
Five cards take on most of this value: Birds of Paradise at $11, The Gaffer at $9.23, Toxic Deluge at $8.59, Treebeard, Gracious Host at $5.20, and Sanguine Bond at $6.
The remaining cards with a value over $1 are as follows:
- Essence Warden – $2.68
- Farmer Cotton – $1.31
- Tireless Provisioner – $2.58
- Mirkwood Bats – $1.09
- Generous Ent – $1.50
- Swords to Plowshares – $1.30
- Anguished Unmaking – $2.32
- Sol Ring – $1.46
- Chromatic Lantern – $1
- Well of Lost Dreams – $1.62
Magic: The Gathering – Best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Commander Deck Upgrades
If you’re looking for ways to turn this wide-reaching Commander deck into a hyper-focused machine, here are the upgrades you’ll want to look for.
