The Starter Commander Decks are the newest preconstructed Commander products by Wizards of the Coast. These decks will likely be aimed at new players looking for an easy on-ramp to EDH. The Commander Precons that release alongside each set already fill this niche but I imagine the Starter Commander Decks will be built for players less familiar with the format as a whole. With that said, these will certainly draw the attention of the EDH community as a whole. So, let’s take a look at what we know so far.
There are five ready-to-play 100-card starter commander decks. They are – First Flight (White, Blue), Grave Danger (Blue, Black), Chaos Incarnate (Black, Red), Draconic Destruction (Red, Green), and Token Triumph (White, Green).
This is really all the concrete info we have so far. We don’t have any decklists or anything like that yet. However, if you’re familiar with Commander it isn’t hard to deduce what the themes are going to be. That said, we’ll take an educated guess as to how the decks will play and what cards they may contain. Aside from that, we’ll also cover the release date and the primary Commanders below.
Key Dates
Release Date: December 2, 2022
Related: MTG 2023 Release Schedule
Contents
Each Starter Commander Deck’s said to contain the following:
- 99 cards and 1 foil-etched card
- 10 double-sided tokens
- 1 deck box
The Decks
As mentioned above, we don’t have all the info for the decks just yet. However, for those of us with some Commander experience, the themes/archetypes aren’t too hard to deduce from looking at the commanders. Having said that, let’s look at the colors, commanders, theme, and some cards likely to be included for each of the starter commander decks.
First Flight
Primary Commander:
Colors:
White, Blue
Theme:
The theme here is creatures with flying. The list has a plethora of “flying matters” cards that allow it to gain life (Archon of Redemption), draw cards (Tide Skimmer), and reduce the cost of your spells (Warden of Evos Isle).
Furthermore, attacking with creatures in the air is also how the deck wants to win games. This is achieved with cards like Thunderclap Wyvern, Empyrean Eagle, Favorable Winds, and Gravitational Shift.
Deck List
First In Flight
Grave Danger
Primary commander:
Colors:
Blue, Black
Theme:
The theme here is pretty simple – This deck is a Zombie Tribal deck with a focus on casting Zombies from the graveyard with cards like Gisa and Geralf. There are also plenty of cards that generate additional value when you do, such as Laboratory Drudge.
Since the pilot of Grave Danger can reanimate their spells, there are tons of sacrifice synergies that force opponents to sac creatures as well. Cards like, Fleshbag Marauder that can be reanimated themselves really shine here.
As far as winning the game goes, recurring Gray Merchant of Asphodel a few times to drain the whole table is quite easy to pull off in my experience.
Related: MTG Mill: What It Is And What It Does
Deck List
Grave Danger
Chaos Incarnate
Primary commander:
Colors:
Black, Red
Theme:
Whenever I see Kardur, Doomscourge in the command zone I know the goal is to create havoc by forcing players to attack when they don’t want to, do it with creatures they usually wouldn’t, and point the attacks at opponents they’d rather no. This also means opposing attacks won’t be coming the way of the Kardur pilot when they otherwise might.
Furthermore, Kardur, Doomscourge will also cause each opponent to lose a life (and you to gain one) whenever an attacking creature dies. This is going to happen quite a lot since opponents are being forced to make non-optimal attacks. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a burn or “drain & gain” theme supported within the deck as well.
Deck List
Chaos Incarnate
Draconic Destruction
Primary commander:
Colors:
Red, Green
Theme:
“Draconic Destruction” led by Atarka, World Render is a Dragon Tribal deck. The deck wants to reduce the cost of some nasty dragons with the likes of Dragonlord’s Servant and Dragonspeaker Shaman attack, give them double strike and smash face.
Gruul (Red, Green) has perhaps the most aggressive, well-costed creatures in the game and access to great ramp, thanks to Green. These attributes make it the perfect color combination for Dragon Tribal.
Deck List
Draconic Destruction
If you’re interested in a list of the very best Dragons in MTG you’ll find our list here.
Token Triumph
Primary commander:
Colors:
White, Green
Theme:
At heart, this will be a token deck that wants to churn out tokens and pump them up. But it’s a unique one. Considering Emmara, Soul of the Accord makes tokens when she untaps, the deck can abuse this with cards like Presence of Gond, Karametra’s Favor, Jaspera Sentinel, and Devouring Light.
There is also a life-gain sub-theme present in the deck. First of all, Emmara, Soul of the Accord pumps out tokens with lifelink. There are also things like March of the Multitudes, Scavenging Ooze, and Dawm of Hope that contribute here.
Deck List
Token Triumph
End Step
Commander is Magic: The Gathering’s most popular format. It can also be one of the game’s wildest, most complex, and most expensive formats. So, I’m happy to see some brand new, simple, budget-friendly products aimed at new players hitting shelves.
I see new and veteran commander players alike enjoying them and I hope that starter commander decks are something that continues to be a thing.
