Good starter Commanders
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on May 28, 2017, 10:14 a.m. by Agent_Fire
I want to make my first Commander deck. I want your help on choosing my first commander.
Agent_Fire says... #3
My playstyle is mix of a timmy/johnny playstyle. I was think a 2 or 3 color deck.
May 28, 2017 10:30 a.m.
hecklefeckle says... #4
How about Maelstrom Wanderer? A big dumb creature that offers lots of combo potential. Just make sure to include lots of ramp!
May 28, 2017 10:35 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
It's going to be really difficult to find you the "best" fit unless you provide a lot more information about what it is you're interested in. Commander is a very diverse and open format, which means that options exist for many kinds of strategies and decks.
May 28, 2017 10:36 a.m.
Agent_Fire says... #6
How about more than one commander at a time, however thanks for that suggestion.
May 28, 2017 10:39 a.m.
Animar, Soul of Elements let's you play really big things quickly, and can be very competitive.
May 28, 2017 10:49 a.m.
MTGApprentice2016 says... #8
Honestly, you can't go wrong with Green in EDH as a starting color. Yeva, Nature's Herald can be a lot of fun and fairly powerful (not to mention cheaply built if budget is a consideration). If you like elves, that will be a bit more pricey but with Ezuri, Renegade Leader at the helm, you'll have lots of options. If you like big splashy spells, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds or Yisan, the Wanderer Bard can combo into lots of mana for eldrazi or other big things. If you want to give your lands some added value, Titania, Protector of Argoth is a good choice.
I suggest green simply because it is #1 in ramp, #2 in card draw, and #3, it has a decent number of effects that deal with artifacts and enchantments (two card types in EDH that can cause lots of shenanigans).
You will suffer in being able to wipe the board (or in having the board wiped) and potential vulnerability to flyers. The other downside is that it is an aggressive color, with the desire to turn its creatures sideways almost every turn. So if you want to play a less aggressively, I'd recommend pairing green with Blue or White.
May 28, 2017 10:53 a.m.
Selvala, Explorer Returned and Edric, Spymaster of Trest are a great starter commanders. You can easily build a big creature based deck and go battle cruiser mode with those. I find since they have "group hug" aspects to them that they can also help out politically in games. It's nice to be ignored because you are helping people draw cards :) Also those 2 color combos are filled with powerful EDH cards. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons can be cheap enough to build, has been very impressive to me already, and her colors are also super powerful. Omnath, Locus of Rage is outrageously powerful and can also be budget. I think you can base in green and build anything for cheap and it can work. I only recommend green because its much cheaper to buy green ramp spells than tier 1 artifact mana and dual/fetches. The mana base of your deck can end up being much cheaper and still work great if you base in green. Cost is important to most people just starting out in the format. If that's not an issue than I would just go for something powerful. Look at 3 color ones like Merieke Ri Berit, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Rafiq of the Many or the aforementioned Maelstrom Wanderer.
I have builds of most of the commanders I mentioned on this site, you can look at my profile to see them. Maybe you will get ideas. Good luck!
May 28, 2017 11:28 a.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #10
Here's a link to a gatherer search for Commanders
Look through it and see what speaks to you for a commander. Then after that you can look here for decks w/ chosen commander for ideas, also EDHREC is a good resource.
May 28, 2017 11:57 a.m.
Agent_Fire says... #11
I know about those resources. I just want suggestions of commanders to start with.
May 28, 2017 12:42 p.m.
TheDuggernaught says... #12
I started with The Mimeoplasm, and really enjoyed it. There are just lots of fun things you can do with it, and he winds up being extremely resilient. Kill my thing? Meh, I will just play it again next turn. Because T-Rex for an arm.
May 28, 2017 1:05 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #13
Just usually what I do, look through binder first, then if nothing go through gatherer's list and see what piques my interest.
I started with a precon, it's not a bad plan, if you end up not liking it you end up with a handful of staples for another deck.
May 28, 2017 1:07 p.m.
I agree with going with a precon, I started out just throwing a deck together but it was terrible until I understood what staples were needed. Personally I really enjoyed all the 2014 planeswalker commanders, Daretti, Scrap Savant and Teferi, Temporal Archmage are probably the most competitive out of them and my favorites though. Both can be made to compete with any deck you'll run into which is nice.
May 28, 2017 1:36 p.m.
Agent_Fire says... #15
I am hoping for a sliver precons for Commander 2017, as it is the only place were they can print new slivers.
May 28, 2017 1:41 p.m.
5_Emmas_in_Main says... #16
A great Commander is Doran, the Siege Tower! Easy to play with many options!
May 28, 2017 2 p.m.
Izu_Korasu says... #17
Meren of Clan Nel Toth feels like a good fit for a precon.
I'd like to suggest Kresh the Bloodbraided, he was my first commander both fits the mold of the decks you have build, and his ability allows for many different styles of play (and some combos) and Atarka, World Render which gives you quick kills and fun synergies/combos
May 28, 2017 2:18 p.m.
landofMordor says... #18
What are your favorite modern/standard decks? Control, aggro, mill, burn? Try filtering TO Commander decks based on those hubs.
At any rate, though, I would definitely suggest buying a C16 or C17 precon. They always include several legendaries, so you can build from there once you get the hang of the precon.
May 28, 2017 3:57 p.m.
You said you enjoy timmy/johny plays. Can you also give us your favourite colours?
I have found that for starting EDH players going 2 colours is the best (3 if the manabase is within budget), as single is too limited and 4 and above can lead to a lack of focus ending up with a very generic goodstuff.deck that has no personality.
If you don't have any colour preferences then here are my suggestions and a simple reasoning behind them:
Rashmi, Eternities Crafter: simic is in my opinion the strongest colour pair in edh for the strong card draw, the ability to interact with all card types, both on and off the battlefield. Rashmi is a good card advantage engine byherself and can be a great support for any kind of strategy.
Ezuri, Claw of Progress: although he does not provide the amount of value Rashmi does on her own, he takes extreme advantage of small one-use utility creatures turning them into real threats. The ramp is there and so is the protection to play him often and keep him on the field enough to help your board go out of control very fast.
Glissa, the Traitor: golgari is my favourite colour pair but I think it lacks a little behind simic just because you lose the ability to interact with the stack. Still, Glissa is cheap, relevant in combat, has loads of combo potential and can support a plethora of attrition/stax tactics.
Varolz, the Scar-Striped is another interesting general. He is voltrony for sure, but he is also a free sac outlet so the creature combos are very real with him as well. It'a a 2-in-1 pack of sorts but you can choose how to build around him in any number of ways.
May 28, 2017 4:53 p.m.
Agent_Fire says... #20
I was thinking about making a: Gruul, Golgari, Jund, Temur, or Naya deck.
May 28, 2017 5:46 p.m.
Agent_Fire says... #21
I was thinking about making a: Gruul, Golgari, Jund, Temur, or Naya deck.
May 28, 2017 5:53 p.m.
For gruul I would recommend Omnath, Locus of Rage landfall. You can have big bursts with cards that do stuff when your creatures enter the battlefield and it gets out of control quick. There are other big creature beatdown ones that also work
For Golgari there are lots of good ones like Meren of Clan Nel Toth or Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest which come in the pre con. The Gitrog Monster is also a fun one but a little hard to pilot.
Also for Naya I would recommend Samut, Voice of Dissent as haste to all your creatures is super good.
I don't know the other colors as well but Kresh seems fun in Jund
May 28, 2017 6:29 p.m.
Agent_Fire says... #24
I am also planning to keep this is a small budget of around 100 dollars.
May 28, 2017 6:32 p.m.
Well I've found that golgari generally costs a lot along with the 3 colors because of lands
May 29, 2017 12:29 a.m.
5_Emmas_in_Main says... #26
Then maybe even Mikaeus, the Unhallowed? One of the strongest budget commander with great ways to keep building! Check this 20$ budget version: Mikaeus, Extreme Sub $20 Budget EDH
May 29, 2017 12:53 a.m.
Agent_Fire says... #27
Well in can't really be sub 20 dollars when the commander itself is 20 dollars
May 29, 2017 10:35 a.m.
filthyc4sual says... #28
What about Riku of Two Reflections? He lets you double up on big effects, and has lots of combo potential. Another good choice would be Omnath, Locus of Rage as a big Timmy card. He can also have some weird combos with Amulet of Vigor.
May 29, 2017 11:38 a.m.
I've got to give a shoutout to my girl Meren of Clan Nel Toth. While most Meren decks (including my own) are far from budget, Meren can easily be built in a budget shell. In fact, you are likely to have many of the necessary cards lying around. Key cards include Fleshbag Marauder, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Viridian Emissary, Spore Frog, Caustic Caterpillar, Grim Haruspex, Satyr Wayfinder, Victimize, and Jarad's Orders. Of course, the deck can abuse many less budget cards (Eternal Witness, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Hell's Caretaker, Fauna Shaman and Entomb) but it is not even close to necessary for a starter shell. Also, keep in mind, not all cards are as expensive as you might think. In my deck, I find that Seasons Past and Demon of Dark Schemes are extremely powerful.
May 29, 2017 12:07 p.m.
Izu_Korasu says... #32
Agent_Fire they are all solid tier 1-3 commanders depending on how they are built.
of the ones you listed, and what you've mentioned of your style, i'd push you towards Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Omnath, Locus of Rage or Maelstrom Wanderer which can have reasonable iterations for +/-100 (where Ezuri/Sram suffer heavily from that restriction) but for the budget Hapatra or Thormok seem like the most "fun"
May 30, 2017 7:29 p.m.
Agent_Fire says... #33
Izu_Korasu I was thinking from deciding from between a Surrak Dragonclaw Eldrazi deck, a Jhoira of the Ghitu chaos deck, a Thromok the Insatiable devour deck, or a Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons -1/-1 deck.
May 30, 2017 9:36 p.m.
Izu_Korasu says... #34
Agent_Fire well your refined list of generals have a wide range of battle plans. so for each general ill provide an EDHREC link which can give you a better feel for how the typical deck plays, and its common contents.
that being said, I would probably steer you away from Surrak Eldrazi, between the basically 4c budget manabase () and the inherent hate players have for eldrazi, it might be an idea to table for now.
Thromok the Insatiable EDHREC is somewhat a standard g/r token deck, with token engines like Dragonlair Spider, Mycoloth support a large Thromok with Soul's Fire and Purphoros, God of the Forge type effects to maximize damage.
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons EDHREC is almost the opposite, using an unconventional approach to generate tokens as a byproduct of cards like Midnight Banshee, Contagion Clasp and other similar (undervalued) cards that create interesting combo's and shenanigans.
Jhoira of the Ghitu EDHREC is a versatile commander that can be used for many shells (in my playgroup there is a Jhoira Eldrazi tribal deck) and chaos is easily one of the more fun options (most involve Obliterate+suspended Blightsteel Colossus/eldrazi titan) so she tends to draw hate... but for chaos tappedout user:Moondragon85 has a deck with a similar goal Eye of the Chaos Storm which could help you decide if its the route for you.
hecklefeckle says... #2
What's your preferred playstyle and colours?
May 28, 2017 10:21 a.m.