Commander Cube: The Commander Overhaul

Over the past few years, I've dialed it back from going to the shop for "competitive" Commander. At the same time, a couple of guys in my regular play group have started to get into Commander. The Commander 20XX decks that get released every year have made getting into the format simple. If they sell it at Target, and you can ask for it for Christmas, getting Magic-related gifts from non-Magic players is real.

With that in mind, I dusted off my Deckbuilding Commander Cube and made significant changes today. You can see the blog of changes and a current list here over at CubeTutor.com.

If you play a lot of commander, building your own deckbuilding cube is actually pretty cool. It's not only fun to think about a limited number of slots and how each card can support more than one archetype, but it gives you the ability to make new decks while reusing all those great cards.

In my cube, I am trying to keep each individual card in the $1-$3 range. This helps to retain that old school commander feel and keeps me competitive with my more casual friends. I will go above that number if it's a foil or if the card has great utility in lots of archetypes, but not much higher than that.

I build two-color decks. They are easier to assemble than three-color decks, but provide more variability than the stronger one-color decks. Someday, I'll map out what all the two-color combinations are supposed to do in the cube. For now, I just build around the legendary creatures.



Unlike drafting cubes, where you have to worry about balance between the colors, this cube is for deckbuilding and so isn't constrained the same way. Blue, for example, is really strong. That's okay because it's up to me what cards go into the decks that I am building. It's not like everyone at the table is going to be competing for blue in the draft.



The other thing is just how much color-fixing and ramp has come along since I started playing Commander. There are so many fixing lands and ramping artifacts out there that filling in a cube with cost-effective ($) cards that get the job done is easy now.

So, I put together a Blue/White Brago deck for the Commander game tonight. It's not tuned. It's not perfect. But it works. And when I want to try something new, I can sort it all back out and pick another two-color combination to try.

Deck in Pictures: Dragon Toolbox, 5 Color Scion of the Ur-Dragon Commander

Continuing with my Deck in Pictures series, take a look at my 5 color Scion of the Ur-Dragon deck.

One of the great things about building Commander decks is that you can set boundaries or additional "rules" for deck construction to help hold a theme together. This can keep a deck from devolving into a pile of theme-less good cards. For this deck, here are my deck construction "rules:"

1) No Scion combo.

There's nothing wrong with combo, but that wasn't what I was going for here. So, no poison or easy pump kills.

2) Only multicolored, legendary dragons.

You'll see a couple of exceptions to this in the pictures below, but I didn't want to just jam every good dragon ever printed into this deck. I also didn't want to jam good non-dragon creatures and lose the dragon theme.

3) No individual cards over $10 TCG low.

All I care about on this one is to set a financial limit to what cards can be used in this deck. If I happen to have a fancy version of a card that is worth more than $10, that's fine. The limitation is more about if a card is available at that price, even if it is a different printing.

4) No tutors, except for cards that find land.

It's too easy to put in tutors and take the randomness about of the format, especially with a 5 color deck that has access to every tutor. That's not what I wanted to do here.

5) No double mana symbols of any one color.

In other words, no GG or UU, or anything like that. Multiple colors in a single spell is fine, just not multiples of the same color.

6) As many full art or textless cards as I could reasonably justify.

This is more of a soft rule, but I filled slots with textless or full art cards when possible. There are some full art cards that break one of the above rules, so those are out. There are others that just don't work well in the deck. Those are out, too. But, there are good number of textless cards represented in the deck.

7) Keep the deck as balanced as possible between the 5 colors and still remain playable.

Same deal here. This is more of a soft rule, but by counting mana symbols, the deck is nearly balanced between the colors.


Even with all those restrictions on cost, expense, creature types, and tutors, this deck works pretty well. This is the deck I bring to the table for a casual game of commander where no one is trying to combo or control the game into oblivion.

Behold! Here be dragons.

The deck includes the five Invasion 3 color dragon legends, along with the five Planar Chaos 3 color dragon legends. Also included are the five Tarkir dragon legends, foil prerelease promos. The two exceptions to my "rules" are the foil prerelease promo Dragonmaster Outcast (not a dragon, but makes dragons) and the foreign Steel Hellkite (not a legend, but is a dragon). No original Elder Dragons because they break my double-mana-symbol rule.

Behold! Removal, removal, removal.

Almost all of the spot removal spells are full art, including the three textless promos and two foil Game Day cards. Anguished Unmaking is has impressive foil artwork. Beast Within is the "Vindicate" replacement, but less expensive to try to stay within the rules. It is also instant speed and only one color, so in some situations it is better than Vindicate.

Behold! The 5 color crew.

I wanted a handful of cards that "cared" about this being a 5 color deck. This deck includes the foil prerelease promo Obelisk of Alara, a foil foreign Door to Nothingness, and a foreign Legacy Weapon. Cromat is here because if I am playing with a new group, I swap him in for Scion so that I don't get ganged up on and pummeled.

Behold! Utility.

I wanted some version of Sarkhan in the deck. This version fit the best. Otherwise, these are the spells that offer the deck utility to solve particular problems that the spot removal spells can't handle. Textless Fireball and Negate, portal Earthquake, foreign Mimic Vat and Gaea's Blessing, and a Beta Regrowth.

Behold! Sweet enchantments.

Sadly, I can't run all of the "siege" enchantments because several break the "no double mana symbols" rule, but Outpost Siege does a good job and has sweet dragon artwork. Dragon Tempest replaces the "white" enchantment in the group because, well, it's Dragon Tempest and also has sweet dragon artwork. Judge foil Oath of Druids and foreign Collective Restraint round out the group.

Behold! Deck manipulation and card drawing.

A necessary evil. If I'm not running tutors, there are too many times I get stuck with the wrong cards or the wrong colors. The top 4 cards help smooth things out. The bottom 4 cards help dig me out. Textless ponder with the guy pointing is sweet. Foreign Rhystic Study, foil promo Fact or Fiction with Hanna and Squee trying to figure things out. Foil Rush of Knowledge.

Behold! Ramp.

The deck needs lots of mana in lots of different colors. This is how I get there. Textless Rampant Growth and Harrow. Promo foil Cultivate and Darksteel Ingot. Foreign Chromatic Lantern.

Behold! Non-basic lands.

I like about 38 lands in my commander decks. Five 5 color lands including a signed foreign City of Brass, five 3 color lands, all foreign, five Panorama lands, all foil, five cycling lands, two basic land fetches, including the foil promo Evolving Wilds, and a foreign Halimar Depths.

Behold! Basic lands?!

The heart of the deck. Three each of the Unglued full art basic lands. I liked these lands the second I laid my eyes on them and I used to dig through the commons boxes at the card shops I visited and pick them out. Over the years, I grabbed quite a few of these lands out of those boxes.

If you want to zoom in on any of these pictures, check out the photo album.


This deck isn't perfect. There are a least a few other full art cards that could be swapped in here. For example, the full art Expeditions version of Mana Confluence would be sweet. I also like the idea of a "X" spell for each color to go along with Earthquake/Fireball. I have a full art foreign foil Killing Wave that could help push me in that direction. It's not a great card in most situations, but the artwork is amazing! I would also like a cycle of 2cmc enchantments, one for each color. It's just that as weaker cards get swapped in, it can turn a fun, playable deck into a deck that no longer puts up a fight.

Deck in Pictures: The Usual Suspects, Mono-Black Commander

Just because I mostly play Commander online through MTGO doesn't mean I stopped collecting physical cards. I've been collecting Magic cards for almost 20 years. I'm a sucker for foreign cards, signed cards, promos, and anything that just looks cool! There's something about shuffling, tapping, and drawing physical cards that is a unique and special part of the experience.

I thought it might be fun to start a series to show some of the cool cards I've collected over the years. Up first, take a look at my mono-black commander deck, The Usual Suspects.

Hold up for a note about the card sleeves before we get to the pictures. I am using the earlier version of the Ultra Pro textured sleeves, where the clear front of the card sleeve is also textured. This tends to make the foils look muted and reduces the reflection.

Behold! Sheoldred.

Foreign, foil, promo, with alternate art. All that, and she locks down games like a boss. Has trouble fitting through doorways.

Behold! The small creatures.

Lot's of foreign cards. Love 'em. The Titan is a foil promo, alternate art. The Sangromancer is foil. Don't be fooled. She is incredible.

Behold! The Demon squad.

More foreign cards. More foils. More promos! All foil except for the Rune-scarred and Lord of the Void.

Behold! The 'walkers.

A bunch of powerful planeswalkers. Vess is foreign. Explaining her abilities to the other people at the table is a fun mini-game!

Behold! Crazy enchantments.

Artist Mark Tedin signed the Necropotence for me with a white pen. Looks sweet.

Behold! Colorless creatures.

A couple promos. Foreign, foil, promo, alternate art Steel Hellkite. Don't be fooled. Steel Hellkite is a savage beating. It wins games.

Behold! Removal.

The closest I get to running spot removal is Ashes to Ashes. The difficult to read card (glare) is the full-art, foil, promo, textless, Damnation. This is a beautiful card. The full-art, promo, Black Sun's Zenith is a close second.

Behold! Tutoring and Card Drawing.

The foreign black-bordered (FBB) Demonic Tutor with original art is quite a looker. Ambition's Cost is the foil 8th edition with a black border. Yawgmoth's Will is signed in gold pen by artist Ron Spencer. I have a Pete Venters signed Demon Token for the Promise of Power.

Behold! Ramp and Utility artifacts.

More foreign cards. More signatures. Artist Mark Tedin signed FBB Sol Ring, original Mana Crypt, and Mana Vault. Foil, alternate art, promo Lightning Greaves look even faster. Foreign Memory Jar. Artist signed original Sensei's Divining Top.

Behold! Ramp and Utility lands.

Artist signed original art Maze of Ith, FBB Strip Mine, Foreign Volrath's Stronghold and Deserted Temple. Foreign Cabal Coffers. Lots of fun stuff here.

Behold! Basic Lands!?

Matching John Avon, full-art, Unhinged basic Swamps. When these were released in the Unhinged Set, I lost my mind. The art is amazing. The effect on the battlefield when I play Swamp after matching Swamp is so cool. It took me forever to collect enough of these to finish the deck! Second best Swamp in all of Magic, right behind the Japanese, MPS, foil promo. (I'll post a picture with my other deck, later.)

If you want to see larger versions of these pictures, click here for the album. Zoom!

I also have some cool tokens and lots of other cards that I sometimes put in the deck, other foreign cards, other promos. This isn't the best deck in the world, but I always feel amazing dropping huge demons onto the battlefield and drawing tons of cards. When it works, it works. And it looks good doing it.

Two Years of Commander on MTGO

A couple of years ago, I stopped going to my friendly local gaming store to play Commander. Instead, I started playing more on magic online through MTGO. It was a time and money thing.

I will admit, up front, that playing commander on MTGO does not capture the feel of sitting down with a couple of other people and smashing creatures into one another across the table. There's something missing when you need to topdeck that one card to win the game - and you do! - and there's no one there to share the moment with.

Sad face.



A couple of guys from work play magic, so we've been able to get together every once in a while for a game in a bar that is dark as sin. At that point, it's playing magic by feel more than actually being able to see the cards. And a couple of guys that I game with regularly will do me a solid a throw a game or two my way once in a while, too. It's not that I never play paper commander anymore, I just don't actively develop my decks for it.

Online, though. Online, I make new decks all the time.



It is so, so much faster to throw something together online than it is in paper. And once I have the new deck built, I'm just a few clicks away from testing it out live against an exciting, unknown opponent!

Another development over the past couple of years is that duel commander (1vs1) is way more forgiving, for me anyway, than sitting through the full multiplayer experience. I do feel like it's drifting further from what "commander" really is without the multiplayer dynamics, but the deck construction and play is similar. The games are also over alarmingly sooner.

Shorter games are good and bad.

There are many, many times in multiplayer commander where I am doing nothing just hoping to get back into the game. I'm not so bad off that I should concede, which no one likes anyway, but not well off enough in the game to make an impact. And the games takes hours! Hours of sitting there, effectively ineffective.

But, online there are clocks.

Sweet, sweet clocks.



And when the clock times out, the game is over. I've been on the losing side of this several times, but it's so worth it.



The other thing about 1vs1 is that games that are going horribly for me are typically over soon enough to start another game or even two or three in the same amount of time that I would have been grinding out another ineffective multiplayer loss.

Strangely, the MTGO client does not have built-in rules for duel commander. So, I typically end up against someone that is following the multiplayer deck construction banlist. The multiplayer list is more permissive with allowed cards because it can fall back on the multiplayer dynamic to even things out. A card like Mana Crypt, for example, is incredibly strong in 1vs1 because it creates a massive advantage for the player that has one early. This is not unlike the Vintage format.

And here's where things get interesting.

Duel Commander (1vs1) with the multiplayer banlist reminds me a lot of Vintage. I call it Vintage Light, since many of the traditional "power" cards are banned, but other powerful cards like Mana Crypt and Sol Ring are totally legal.



But unlike actual Vintage, the games are more random due to the larger deck size and more restrictive banlist.

And because many of the powerful cards, like Mana Crypt, are staggeringly expensive in paper but cheap online, it's not as financially unreasonable to get into Vintage Light.



For comparison, as of 8/3/2016, a Mana Crypt from Eternal Masters is about $70 at TCGPlayer, while a Mana Crypt online is about $2 from Eternal Masters online at MTGOTraders.

So, there you go, a $68 difference for that card.



For another comparison, as of 8/3/2016, a Mishra's Workshop is about $750 at TCGPlayer, while the same cards online is about $4 at MTGOTraders.

Many of the cards you would want to play to be competitive or to make your deck explosive are available online at reasonable prices. And they can be easily slotted into multiple decks at the same time because of the way that MTGO works. Let's see you do that in paper!

Don't get me wrong, though. Not every card is cheaper (or cheap) online.



Consider Liliana of the Veil. Paper price for a moderately played Lili? About $80 on TCGPlayer as of 8/3/2016. Online price? $106 at MTGOTraders.

Hey, they can't all be winners, folks.

Brian Weissman, Card Advantage, and Commander

If you've never heard of Brian Weissman, he's the guy I think of when I think of the concept of Card Advantage in Magic.

He's the guy I think of when I think of, "The Deck."

There's lots of Magic theory out there. Check out my previous post about stuff like Card Advantage, Tempo, Time Walks, and more. And while reading out Magic theory is great, it's also academic.

But let's say you want to see the concept of Card Advantage in Magic in action. That's where Brian Weissman comes in.

I'm going to let you in on a secret.



Brian Weissman has a YouTube channel. And Brian Weissman plays Commander.

There's a small group of you out there that read those two sentences and just fell off the chair. If you are at all into what makes the game of Magic really work, you are in for a treat.

As he plays, Brian talks through his thought process about why he is doing the things he is doing during the game. Why he is casting a certain spell. Why he is leaving mana open.

His commentary is unlike any other I've listened to.

We get to listen to the thought process of amazing player, 20+ years in the making. You'll hear phrases like, "I don't care about that," when his opponent plays a card. These are cards that many of us would imagine represent a crushing advantage, where he dismisses them out of hand.




If you watch a few games, you are going to see what is at the heart of Card Advantage in Magic. A turn where his opponent is out of cards, has very little on the board, and where Brian is sitting on several counterspells. The game is over, even if it isn't officially over yet.

This is the exact same scenario that "The Deck" would create. It is the epitome of the control deck archetype in a game of Magic, applied to Commander. Even if you hate control, you need to watch him talk these games through. It will change the way you commit resources into a control deck.

I've watched a dozen or more games so far, and all of them have had their interesting moments. But, if you want a good starter example, check out this Azami vs. Amazi match-up.

Brian Weissman is an amazing player, and has wonderful insights on how to evaluate the game using Card Advantage and control. The fact that he is recording games in the Commander format for us to watch is too good to pass up. These videos are criminally underwatched. Take a look and pause the video at each step. Decide what you would do in that situation and see if he does the same thing. I bet you'll be surprised.

Commander Cube: Lessons Learned From Pauper

When I play Magic, do I always play the Commander format? No.

Usually, but not always.

I was on a pauper kick for a while. The pauper scene is active on Magic the Gathering Online (MTGO), so it's easy to get in a few games here and there. Building decks out of all commons is strangely satisfying and can really change your perspective on the power level of certain cards.



What does this have to do with Commander Cube?

I learned a couple of lessons while playing Pauper that apply to the limited card pool of a drafting cube.

The Pauper format is slow.

There's probably someone out there reading this that just grabbed a lamp off the desk and chucked it at the wall, but in my experience during the dozens of games I played against a ton of different decks it took forever to close things out. Most games came down to topdecking a solution to a stalemated board.

This means that some combinations of cards that would be ridiculously slow in other formats are game breaking in Pauper. Reality Acid + Capsize is a good example.



What we have here are two blue cards that when combined a certain way form a repeatable and nearly universal removal machine. For a total of 6 mana to pay for buyback, Capsize is already a powerful card. But, with Reality Acid, you can spend a total of 9 mana to remove almost anything from the equation.

Yes, we are really talking about a 9 mana, two card combo.

It's that kind of format.

But, if you build a Commander Cube, where the card pool is limited, you will find that strange cards become powerful due to the way that the cards interact with one another when no other options are available.



I recently removed Mesmeric Orb from the Cube for this reason. I originally included it because I wanted a milling theme available, but what actually happened was that Mesmeric Orb could be slammed into almost any deck and would stall the game. It was interesting, but it wasn't fun.

You know what else I learned from Pauper?

Creatures that do stuff are awesome.




Magic has come a long way.

It used to be that creatures were a lot like sorceries. You could only cast them on your own turn, and only when there was nothing else going on. Instants were like quick spells you could cast on your opponent's turn or at other times when you couldn't normally cast sorceries or summon creatures. Instants added strategic depth to the game.

Fast forward to today, and we have a lot more creatures with "flash," giving us the ability to throw creatures out there when we normally can't. This adds a significant amount of strategic depth to the game because a surprise blocker or a creature that shows up at the end of the turn can tear apart a carefully laid plan.

With creatures that flash in, there's more to think about.

We also have access to a lot more creatures that actually do something when they enter the battlefield. They do lots of things that we used to have to rely on an instant or sorcery to get done. Stuff like drawing cards, and destroying things.



What does this have to do with Commander Cube? Well, a high creature count makes the games way more interactive. You can build the cube to include creatures that have a spell effect, but that leave a body behind.

Think of it this way. If I cast Naturalize to destroy my opponent's Sol Ring, I trade my one card (Naturalize) for her one card (Sol Ring), and then that's it. My opponent has access to less mana, and I have access to one less card, but there's nothing else to think about.



But! If I destroy that same Sol Ring by casting Reclamation Sage, there's a creature left over to think about. For one more mana than Naturalize, I get a 2/1 body out of the deal. I can do all kinds of stuff with that creature. There's way more synergies available with Reclamation Sage than there is with Naturalize. Flicker, bounce, reanimate, attack, block, pump, you name it.



The pauper format really brings this concept to light. Having a creature that does something useful and that sticks around to attack or block is a big deal. It makes for a more interesting game. So, when considering cards for the cube, look for creatures first that can fill the utility roles when possible.

Five Color Commander: Crushing Dreams on a Budget

Oh, man.

Crushing Dreams on a Budget

How cool is that? It's too bad I can't take credit for it, but I ran across that lyrical gem when I was researching five color deck alternatives. What deck are we talking about? Pauper Dreamcrusher Child of Alara.



Get a load of this guy.

Here's the thing. "Pauper" commander means different things to different people. For the purposes of this deck discussion, it means that every card in the deck was printed at common rarity except the commander.

So, we have a deck that consists of Child of Alara + 99 commons.

This is where things get interesting.

I've been playing a five color deck for a long time that is a soul-crushing control monster. It's creatureless and attacks the game from an angle that is difficult to play against. When the lock is in place, it's only a matter of time before the game is officially over.

The scary thing about the Child of Alara deck is that it is strategically similar to the five color control deck I'm referring to, except it costs 100 times less. Tappedout is telling me that the Child of Alara deck is about $50. Heck, you probably already have - or can get your friends to give you - most of the cards for it.



The deck basically works like this. You ramp a bit to get access to all five colors. You cast your commander. You proceed to blow up your commander and replay it over and over, reaping massive card advantage and generally wrecking everyone else's day.

From there, you win.

Your commander, in the form of Child of Alara, is both the control condition and the win condition. Most decks in this format cannot handle repeated destruction of all non-land permanents.



You are essentially engineering a situation where you have Child of Alara in play, along with a way to kill it and return it, backed up by countermagic and bounce spells. Despite working with an all common card pool, this situation is alarmingly easy to put together.

The problem is that this deck suffers from the same problem as the other five color control deck: it sucks to play against. Now that we can no longer tuck commanders, the Child of Alara deck is almost guaranteed to have access to the board wipe, typically on command because of the way the deck is built.



I was playing this deck on MTGO last night in a quick 1vs1 game against Olivia. The BR Olivia deck is a powerhouse, especially since my opponent didn't have the same "only commons" restriction I was working with. We had some back and forth action for a few turns. I killed Olivia with a Wrecking Ball at his end of turn, untapped, played Child of Alara, and then passed. He played a land and passed back. I transmuted Dizzy Spell for Sidisi's Faithful and played it. My opponent conceded.



This may not be immediately obvious, but Sidisi's Faithful lets you choose Child of Alara to "exploit," then choose itself (Sidisi's Faithful) as the creature to return to its owner's hand. In other words, you can trigger the Child of Alara board wipe every turn and Sidisi's Faithful will be back in your hand before it happens. As long as you can replay Child of Alara from your graveyard, you can wipe the board every turn.

Game over.

For a low-cost deck, it's a fun to build and play with Pauper Dreamcrusher. Plus, there is an active forum with discussion on the deck for those of you who like to discuss card choices and strategies with other, like-minded individuals. And who doesn't like looking through commons for gems that break open a certain line of play?



Did you know that Angelic Purge from Shadows over Innistrad is a common that deals with indestructible gods while simultaneously giving you a way to sacrifice Child of Alara and trigger the destruction of everything? How deliciously convenient.