Best Commander Designs
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on June 11, 2017, 6:17 a.m. by landofMordor
I had an interesting idea which I hope might prompt some discussion:
I realized that Anax and Cymede are brilliantly designed for EDH. Beyond their color identity and stats, they essentially make combat tricks viable in EDH, because they convert them into a buff for your whole team. And they do it all while remaining extremely flavorful and within the pie. Who would have guessed that combat tricks could be EDH-viable? (For casual play, obviously.)
What other commanders have you noticed are extremely well-designed from the mechanics up, regardless of competitiveness or raw power, opening up new possibilities for strategies and subsets of cards? (Note: this does not mean your favorite legendary; it means commanders who make unique strategies available in their colors, or who do something new for their colors in EDH.)
landofMordor says... #3
That's interesting, Winterblast! Seems pretty similar to Toshiro Umezawa, where a whole new playstyle for B (spell-based control) is made possible by the unique and flavorful design of the commander. Maybe Xiahou is sacrificing himself to get his other eye...
June 11, 2017 7:29 a.m.
griffstick says... #4
Multani, Maro-Sorcerer he is always huge in edh. He must not have been designed for multiplayer. He works great with Fungal Sprouting effects check it out you might like it
June 11, 2017 7:30 a.m.
I am a huge fan of Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord because he does everything I want in a golgari deck which is (for casual) playing fatties, attacking, doing value with my graveyard (ie Sakura-Tribe Elder with Oversold Cemetery active). You can also win without attacking but if you do so, you'll likely have some demons, beast and so on that you can even sac to Jarad if they were blocked
June 11, 2017 8:32 a.m.
Im a big fan of lower CMC mono color commanders. Baral, Chief of Compliance and Rhonas the Indomitable have wonderful synergy with mono-u or mono-g decks. Rhonas seems similar to Anax and Cymede in that he can buff your team, not as good (expensive Rancor on a stick). Plus you can just drop a Leatherback Baloth or any other green creature like it to allow Rhonas to attack. Baral is an amazing commander due to his card draw synergy with mono-u.
June 11, 2017 9:19 a.m.
My personal favorites are commanders like Patron of the Moon or Kefnet the Mindful, taking fringe cards like Flooded Shoreline, Floodbringer, Storm Cauldron, and Overburden and making them more viable. In a sense, Nekusar, the Mindrazer is kind of similar, as it takes good cards (like Wheel of Fortune) and gives them purpose.
June 11, 2017 5:55 p.m.
Myr_Mythic says... #8
I'd say that Lovisa Coldeyes is a solid candidate because she can turn a lot of meh creatures (which Red has plenty of in those creature types) of limited value into fatties. Lot's of tribal shenanigans are enabled with her at the helm, and that just screams Commander to me.
June 11, 2017 5:57 p.m.
landofMordor says... #9
Octrate, Myr_Mythic, that's what I'm talking about! All those commanders really deepen the possibilities of their respective colors, and take advantage of in-pie possibilities that are quite obscure until those legendaries come in and wreck. Thanks for sharing, both!
Winterblast says... #2
I've come to like Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed a lot. He let's you reuse your tutors over and over again, which is perfect for commander...although that format didn't exist when the card was designed
June 11, 2017 7:16 a.m.