Images courtesy of Wizards of the Coast

Since 2011, Wizards of the Coast has painstakingly printed 145 different Commander decks. Some of these are fantastic, like these ones here. Others, however, are... not so good.

This article, in contrast to the one linked above, will seek to discern the worst five precons of the last five years. Like with the article above, we will not be discussing the Secret Lair precons, so "Everyone's Invited" is out, for example. But, there are plenty of other iffy Commander decks that we can talk about, so let's dive right in!

2021: Spirit Squadron

Spirit Squadron, one of the two precons to come out of Innistrad: Crimson Vow, was the worst of the two. What's more, it was also the worst precon of 2021. Granted, it was in the first release of 2021, and innovations were made that year to improve things quite a bit, later on. You may notice this as a minor subtheme of this article, but as decks improve in design, older decks end up looking much worse as time goes by.

However, Spirit Squadron was already at a drastic disadvantage out of the gate. Spirits have a lot of support, but it's spread out over all five colors thanks to the original Kamigawa block. The focus of this Spirit-kindred deck was diluted from the get-go. In contrast, Vampiric Bloodline (the other Crimson Vow precon) was a Vampire-kindred deck. Vampires have largely been associated with Rakdos colors, with some amount of white (and a hint of blueblue) in the mix. Therefore, that deck was much more focused where it mattered.

To further cement these matters, though, Crimson Vow was primarily a Vampire-focused set and was going to have massively strong upgrades for that deck. Spirit Squadron had little to improve it in Crimson Vow. Thus, Vampiric Bloodline was surely the more popular deck of the two.

You can check out the Spirit Squadron precon's decklist here.

As you can see from the list linked above, the mana base for Spirit Squadron is simply dreadful. There are tapped nonbasics pervading the mana base, many of the creatures have no synergy except that they produce Spirit tokens, and many of the other cards just don't make sense. Overall, the deck is a cluster of... I'm not even going to say Spirit-matters, because, for a lot of these cards, Spirits don't actually matter. They just exist.

Millicent is a fine commander for this deck if only because she is the only card that ties the themes together in any cohesive way. But the Spirit Squadron precon is truly a shambles.

2022: Painbow

Painbow, the worse of two precons from Dominaria United, was another deck with all sorts of logistical issues. Right out of the gate, it's clear that Wizards of the Coast was actively trying to make a five-color deck work as a Commander precon. However, there will probably always be issues with that endeavor. As of the time of writing, Wizards just won't print amazing lands in large quantities within a precon. Therefore, in 2022, three long years ago, when that situation was even more rough, they put a bunch of tapped tri-lands in Painbow.

Then, they stuffed this deck full of multicolored cards. Traditionally, unless they're hybrid, most multicolored cards need at least two colors of mana to cast. There was a limited amount of mana rocks in Painbow, and again, the tri-lands entered tapped, so there were plenty of issues getting Painbow to function. As nice as it seems to have a toolbox of legendary creatures and five-drop multicolor creatures in tow, the deck itself was bad.

And don't get me started on casting Jared CarthalionJared Carthalion, the face of this deck. As a five-drop, a player already can't cast Jared right away. But as one that costs , in this particular preconstructed deck, that's a bleak prospect.

You can check out the Painbow precon's decklist by clicking here.

Of course, there are definitely plenty of valid reasons to pick up Painbow. For instance, it has a whole bevy of interesting legendary creatures that you could use to make a neat Commander deck under (or more than one!). If you're dead-set on building a five-color deck of your own, there are a couple of legends that could serve as a good starting point. But if you're looking to buy Painbow to play Painbow? It'll be as painful as the name suggests, so good luck.

2023: Virtue and Valor

Wilds of Eldraine continues to be one of my favorite sets of 2023. Following in the footsteps of March of the Machine (and its Aftermath), the set is one of the coolest expansions around. It has a great bonus sheet, really interesting themes, and one very cool precon.

However, the other precon of the set, Virtue and Valor, isn't nearly as good. As a white-green deck with a focus on Aura spells, it suffers from a slight identity crisis. Auras insist that a deck goes tall with a Voltron strategy, but the deck itself seems to want to go more wide than that in practice. There's nothing wrong with this if done well. Sadly, though, Virtue and Valor was not done well. Between its costly Auras and creatures that need Auras to be in play before they can pay off, this deck took much time to succeed in getting results.

You can look at the Virtue and Valor precon's decklist by clicking here.

And then there's Ellivere of the Wild CourtEllivere of the Wild Court. Like Millicent of Spirit Squadron, Ellivere is largely the glue that keeps Virtue and Valor as cohesive as it can be. If there were more ways to create Virtuous Role tokens, I might be just a little bit more inclined to like this deck. As it stands, Ellivere is all there is for that. In this way, the cohesion isn't even as tight as it should be.

Still, I guess I can't be too hard on this deck. It's an Enchantress build, and those are often oppressive. Granted, it's a bad Enchantress build, but one nonetheless. But even so, it's the worst precon of 2023... Which, to be fair, may bode well for the other decks of that year.

2024: Deadly Disguise

There were a few contenders for the worst deck of 2024. My own editor, Andy Zupke, is certain that it was Science! from Fallout. You can find that critique in his review here. In summary, Andy gives it the only F he's ever given a Commander precon. However, in my eyes, Deadly Disguise is the worst deck of 2024.

There are plenty of valid reasons I disagree with Andy on this front, although I do think it's a close race. Ultimately, Deadly Disguise is rooted in white-red-green breaching into new territory, with face-down cards mattering. Traditionally, most of the morph, manifest, or similar decks utilize blue and black, with green as an additional option for a third color. Green has its share of decent support for facedown cards, to be sure, but it doesn't carry the distinct lack that red or white have had for so long.

As such, the consequential result is that Deadly Disguise just doesn't cut the mustard here. It relies too much on green's precedented use of morph support to matter, and even then, the green doesn't do enough. Additionally, most of the best cards that cloak or disguise in Murders at Karlov Manor aren't in the color identity of this deck. Frankly, anyone seeking to purchase Deadly Disguise is better off buying Faceless Menace from Commander 2019, and that deck isn't fantastic, either.

You can see the Deadly Disguise precon's decklist by clicking here!

Furthermore, there's something to be said about Kaust, Eyes of the GladeKaust, Eyes of the Glade, the face of Deadly Disguise. This legendary creature is so forgettable amid the existence of Voja, Jaws of the ConclaveVoja, Jaws of the Conclave, a card that shares its identity with Kaust and came out at the same time. Multiple times, while writing this very article, I had to look back at the decklist for Deadly Disguise to even recollect Kaust's name, let alone Kaust's epiphet. Legendary? More like "I have to refer to a legend to get this name down!" It's probably a symptom of the legend fatigue of the time, but that's just no good.

2025: Living Energy

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that 2025 was a massive improvement over the years prior. Wizards gave us Tarkir: Dragonstorm's five excellent precons. Final Fantasy Commander was (and still is!) a home run. Edge of Eternities wasn't bad either. But then, there's Aetherdrift. This set was a train wreck (or is that a car wreck? Ha!), compounded by the themes not being conducive to a fantasy game like Magic (at least at the time). There's a design problem when people are relatively cool with sets like the racing set, but not with the racing set. Wizards took a few steps forward past Murders at Karlov Manor via Outlaws of Thunder Junction and Duskmourn, but took many steps back with Aetherdrift.

You can look at the Living Energy precon's decklist by clicking here!

To paraphrase what Magic Head Designer Mark Rosewater said of the lessons he learned from Aetherdrift, players seemed to like the atmosphere of new and improved planar locations, but didn't like the racing theme. That makes the Zombie deck, Eternal Might, a hit. But, Living Energy, the worst deck of 2025, was decidedly a flop.

This is in part because of its themes conflicting with previous energy precons. Creative Energy and Science! both are white-blue-red decks that want to generate as many energy counters as possible. Then, the decks want to power as many things as they can with them. There's plenty of cohesion there. Living Energy is in the colors that should always have been the de facto energy colors for a precon. Unfortunately, it conflicts with the aforementioned decks. It wants to save up those energy counters to explode in one big burst with one or two cards. It's a cool idea, and therefore it's a bit better than the other precons on this list in particular. But it's still not a great deck, and the other decks of 2025 were all many leagues better than it.

Conclusion

2025 shows that Wizards of the Coast is steadily improving the way they make Commander precons. Even so, bad preconstructed decks exist across every year of the format's official acknowledgement. Here's hoping that one day, I won't have to criticize a precon too much because of any particular shortcoming in design in an article like this.

Nevertheless, I'd love to open the floor to you now, dear readers! Of these five precons, which do you think is the very worst of the worst? Are there worse precons that I didn't take note of? Are any of these just not deserving of mention here? Sound off in the comments below!