Images courtesy of Wizards of the Coast

In the last three years, Wizards of the Coast has really pushed the number of Commander preconstructed decks ("precons") they could release annually. Of the 147 precons released since 2011, 73 came out from 2022-2024 – just shy of 50%.

This year has seen a merciful drop to a mere 13 total precons. We had releases from Aetherdrift, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Final Fantasy, and Edge of Eternities.

Our unusually low number of precons this year can be at least partially attributed to the Spider-Man and Avatar: the Last Airbender sets not having any decks associated with them.

While Everyone’s Invited, the Secret Lair Commander deck, is technically a precon released this year, it's so far beyond the normal quality and bounds of mass-market releases that I’m choosing to ignore it for this type of article.

Honorable Mention

Spoiler alert: neither preconstructed deck from Aetherdrift made the top five (only one of them would have made my top ten). I nevertheless wanted to shout them out for fulfilling demands from the audience that had been standing since the 2016 era with a commander for Temur energy decks.

The decks also helped the set feel like more of a return by bringing back an element players wanted which couldn’t fit in the main set proper, much like the precons for Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

#5 - Mardu Surge

The very first ever Mardu precon, Heavenly Inferno (released before we even had Mardu as a name), was helmed by Kaalia of the VastKaalia of the Vast and featured such hot reprints as Dragon WhelpDragon Whelp... Mixed bag. Trust me, it’s way better now.

Zurgo StormrenderZurgo Stormrender leads Mardu Surge, which expands upon the mobilize theme from the main set. He makes a 1/1 Warrior when he attacks, which gets sacrificed on the next end step. He draws you cards whenever your attacking creatures die and burns your opponents for one if the creatures die outside of the attack step.

This ability really enables the deck to be aggressive without being oppressive, and it’s fantastic. The kind of deck where Lingering SoulsLingering Souls makes sense even if you weren’t playing that card in Modern once upon a time.

The death trigger gives it some inherent Aristocratic elements, but unlike 2020’s Ruthless Regiment, this Mardu precon doesn’t get an upgrade with the full Blood ArtistBlood Artist package. The aggro is supported by the death trigger elements, not the other way around.

But that’s not all! It’s going aggro by use of tokens, and has a strong token package to help out. With those three themes in a tight bundle, it makes for a fun ride.

If a player grows tired of Zurgo or even the back-up commander Neriv, Crackling VanguardNeriv, Crackling Vanguard, the deck offers a lot of highly functional cards for other decks that share colors.

For the aggressive players:

• Within RangeWithin Range
• Adeline, Resplendent CatharAdeline, Resplendent Cathar
• Castle EmberethCastle Embereth

For the token players:

• Infantry ShieldInfantry Shield
• Divine VisitationDivine Visitation
• Chittering WitchChittering Witch

For the Aristocrats players:

• Aron, Benalia's RuinAron, Benalia's Ruin
• Deadly DisputeDeadly Dispute
• Bastion of RemembranceBastion of Remembrance

And finally, ignoring its commander, the most valuable cards in the deck:

• Goldlust TriadGoldlust Triad
• Ainok Strike LeaderAinok Strike Leader
• Grand CrescendoGrand Crescendo

This is a deck that could’ve nabbed the top spot in several years’ past… let’s see what beat it.

#4 - Counter Intelligence

Another time, I may tally up themes and how often they appear, but even a cursory glance reveals that Counter Intelligence deck felt like a fresh new package. Jeskai has gotten close to counters a few times, but this is the first contact with +1/+1 counters and charge counters. Indeed, this is the first time that charge counters have played a major role in a Commander product.

And what a deck! This precon brings back old cards like Etched OracleEtched Oracle and makes them feel at home alongside the likes of new heaters like Surge ConductorSurge Conductor. This deck actually has a unique feature in its release for the commanders: Its backup commander is a Spacecraft, Inspirit, Flagship VesselInspirit, Flagship Vessel.

Both commanders fiddle with counters in some way, with Inspirit directly calling out the artifact subtheme in the deck. The deck is incredibly well put-together, with most of its cards working well with both parts of its theme.

Even better is the recent boost to mana bases reflected here, with the brand new lands Radiant SummitRadiant Summit and Glittering MassifGlittering Massif being printed to lift up enemy-color mana bases. Love that!

Like with our fifth place deck, this one can be split if one should choose to pick up a different path.

In the early game, you’ll drop some ways to make your artifact spells cheaper or start some counter shenanigans, with cards like:

• Enthusiastic MechanautEnthusiastic Mechanaut
• ThrummingbirdThrummingbird
• Moxite RefineryMoxite Refinery

Once in the midgame, you’ll start some value generators that take advantage of your proliferate engines:

• Insight EngineInsight Engine
• Long-Range SensorLong-Range Sensor
• Lux ArtilleryLux Artillery

When your board is more dice than cards, you’ll cast one of these haymakers to close the deal:

• Deepglow SkateDeepglow Skate
• Depthshaker TitanDepthshaker Titan
• Wake the PastWake the Past

It’s just a phenomenally well put-together deck, with so much to offer on its own and as a gateway into either counters or artifact decks.

#3 - Sultai Arisen

Graveyard decks have come a long way, and Sultai Arisen shows just how versatile they can be. It’s not as new to Sultai, having been the heart of the very first Sultai precon way back in 2011’s Devour For Power, but this expression is completely alien to that time period.

Its commander, Teval, the Balanced ScaleTeval, the Balanced Scale, manages to enable a graveyard strategy with a small ramp subtheme to help power out the Dragons that it and every other Tarkir: Dragonstorm precon wanted to include a least a few of.

On attack, Teval mills three cards from your library and puts a land card from your graveyard onto the battlefield, and whenever a card leaves your graveyard for any reason, Teval makes a 2/2 Zombie Druid. Ramp and board presence, in addition to a bigger graveyard!

Devour For Power had maybe five cards that let you mill yourself, while Sultai Arisen has 14 at various spots on the curve:

• Hedron CrabHedron Crab
• Life from the LoamLife from the Loam
• Will of the SultaiWill of the Sultai

There are 51 cards that mention the graveyard in some capacity, including these excellent grindy midgame pieces:

• Teval's JudgmentTeval's Judgment
• Diviner of MistDiviner of Mist
• Conduit of WorldsConduit of Worlds
• Kishla SkimmerKishla Skimmer

Finally, you need your closers:

• Lord of ExtinctionLord of Extinction
• Afterlife from the LoamAfterlife from the Loam
• Colossal Grave-ReaverColossal Grave-Reaver

The deck is just good, not-so-clean, fun with its constant churning of the ‘yard for hijinks and value. The way that it still threaded in the feel of Tarkir’s new norm with its primary Dragon commander and the clan’s head back-up commander (the less-beloved but still interesting Kotis, Sibsig ChampionKotis, Sibsig Champion) was truly impeccable.

No wonder it resonated the way it did…

#2 - Limit Break

If you read Josh Nelson’s article, you might be doing a double-take right now, seeing where they placed this, but I’ll explain when I get to my number one pick.

I played Final Fantasy VII at least twice as a kid, but I’ve gushed enough about that in other articles. Needless to say, this absolutely nails the feeling of leveling up your characters with better Equipment and materia.

Figuring out that Conformer ShurikenConformer Shuriken was a reference to how Yuffie’s final weapon scaled with the enemy’s level was such a treat. Playing out Bugenhagen, Wise ElderBugenhagen, Wise Elder and Professor HojoProfessor Hojo and looking at the odd symmetries of the two supporting characters made me really think about their roles in the game.

The deck just plays well; it can get purring by turn three or so and keep the pressure on with its mix of individually powerful cards and delightful synergies. It never feels like an unstoppable avalanche, but it can come back from a board wipe after a turn or two.

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIERCloud, Ex-SOLDIER is a fun commander in his own right. He unites the red-white Equipment synergies with red-green big creatures under the seven power theme.

Tifa, Martial ArtistTifa, Martial Artist is a commander I actually wrote about here so I won’t go into too much detail in this article. She’s a great option for those more interested in general aggression. She keeps the seven power theme but uses extra combats as a great payoff to close things out.

The deck has a fantastic early ramp package, mixing a blend of the usual suspects with unique picks that help this deck feel different:

• Inspiring StatuaryInspiring Statuary
• Nature's LoreNature's Lore
• Sword of the AnimistSword of the Animist

From there, the deck curves out well with high-value Equipment that even decks not focused on the archetype could make great use of:

• Trailblazer's BootsTrailblazer's Boots
• Champion's HelmChampion's Helm
• Darksteel PlateDarksteel Plate

It doesn’t rely on high value spells – it only has 10 cards mana value five or more, partially because it’ll sink a decent amount of mana into equip costs. To that end, it runs on synergy.

Thanks to that, it actually has a fair few commanders who can each focus on a different part of the original deck’s themes, should you choose to break it up:

• Barret, Avalanche LeaderBarret, Avalanche Leader
• Aerith, Last AncientAerith, Last Ancient
• Sephiroth, Fallen HeroSephiroth, Fallen Hero

It’s just a treat. I love playing this deck so, so much, so what could possibly beat this one out?

#1 - World Shaper

Back in 2018, I bought the full set of precons. This included Nature’s Vengeance, a land-themed deck helmed by Lord WindgraceLord Windgrace. This precon was… heavily criticized for its landbase, construction, and failure to inspire as a land theme.

At the time, land theme seemed to just mean ramp with a light graveyard theme enabled by a generic Jund value package. When I saw that we were getting a second Jund land-themed deck, I was genuinely curious…

World Shaper nailed it.

The deck’s focus is on lands, and that means having some lands that are actually exciting to play. They have some great ones, old and new:

• Eumidian HatcheryEumidian Hatchery
• Fabled PassageFabled Passage
• Vernal FenVernal Fen
• Twilight MireTwilight Mire

If you had told me five years ago that Fabled PassageFabled Passage of all things would end up in a precon, I wouldn’t have believed you. That alone got me jazzed about the deck. But it keeps going.

Both commanders actually care about lands and help push the theme forward, unlike Lord Windgrace’s backup options, Gyrus, Waker of CorpsesGyrus, Waker of Corpses or Thantis, the WarweaverThantis, the Warweaver.

The thing about lands as a card type is that just pushing for more land drops makes it a pure ramp deck. To make it feel like a lands deck, it needs to be about moving the lands around in interesting ways – sacrificing them for weird value but consistently replacing them so you don’t end up behind on mana.

The graveyard replayability is immensely helpful, but so are the great new sac outlets for lands:

• Exploration BroodshipExploration Broodship
• Evendo BrushrazerEvendo Brushrazer
• Eumidian WastewakerEumidian Wastewaker

Really, I could go on and on about the brilliant design choices and how they employ the lands theme to brilliantly represent an alien species that terraforms. But there's only so much time in the day.

This made my top spot because it’s not just a great deck to play, but it represents how far along the Commander product line has come. There’s a direct comparison between this deck and Nature’s Vengeance, right down to the highly unusual noncreature commander!

It’s great to see Magic change and grow in such an obviously positive way like this, especially during such a tumultuous year.

Is Less More?

This year saw a major dip in preconstructed decks, true enough. Was it for the better? Even the decks I might have put at the bottom of the list were leagues better than precons we were getting pre-2020 - so, perhaps. All of the decks were used to expertly enhance their sets in some way, fleshing out themes or providing extra flavor. It was a truly tough time to rank precons!

That being said, do we miss the influx of strange, new cards and wacky themes of yesteryear? Or are we good with so few decks per year? Let me know what you think!

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