Art by Adam PaquetteThis is a cube curated for the Commander format. The cube is split into two main categories: commanders and regular cards. In unison with the format this cube is based on, commanders dictate the color identity of your deck. The game is played with the same rules, although decks are 60 cards minimum.
Most of the eligible Commanders are legendary creatures, with the exception being Urza, Academy Headmaster. While Uzra does not have the text "This can be your commander", the planeswalker is interesting enough to warrant a spot in the list.
Players are given 1 pack of 7 commander cards and also 3 packs of 20 Regular Cards. The legendary creature pack is sealed while the other 20 card packs are drafted between all players. Commanders are decided during deckbuilding, not during the draft.
During draft, players must pick two cards per pack. This allows for more synergistic deckbuilding and creates a friendlier environment for people who don't play limited often.
Some of the legendary creatures that are eligible as commanders are not draftable. Players are only allowed to receive them if they drafted the cards that has the text "Partners with specific card". For example: if a player wants to include the card "Haldan, Avid Arcanist" in their deck, they must have drafted their partner "Pako, Arcane Retriever". For this reason, only one of the "Partners with" are included in the draft while their pairs are left out to be picked when the draft is done.
Each two color pair has themes that dictate their strategies. Most commanders reflect this, being either a payoff or an enabler to strategies.
Although some three colored commanders can handle multiple archetypes, it is usually best to stick to one type of synergy.
Color Archetypes
Blink | Tokens | +1/+1c
White does one thing right: care about its creatures. From blinking strategies with Chaming Prince to pumping your team with Felidar Retreat or even doubling your tokens with Anointed Procession, your creatures are going to be the main focus of most decks that include white.
With this as a focus, some cards like Wrath of God that remove all creatures are excluded in order to give room to these creature-focused themes. Pinpoint removal like Swords to Plowshares and Generous Gift have also been omitted in order to not only allow for more cards that care about creatures but also allow other colors this disruption.
Spellslinger | +1/+1c | Blink
Disrupt your opponents with your instant and sorceries while your creatures generate value to eventually close out a hard fought game. With many instant and sorceries to be drafted, blue archetypes focus on either protecting your strategies or disrupting others. But don't be fooled: blue is not a support color as it brings some serious bombs to games like Hullbreaker Horror and Astral Dragon.
Sacrifice | Graveyard/Discard | Exile
While the concept of "caring about creatures" might not be the same as white, black does put them to amazing use with its many ways of sacrificing like Viscera Seer and Warren Soultrader. A graveyard full of bombs such as Brainstealer Dragon and Sower of Discord can easily be exploited with From the Catacombs or even Command the Dreadhorde. And if that wasn't enough, you can always just rely on the best removal spells the cube has to offer in Infernal Grasp and many others to keep the other decks in check.
Exile | Discard | Spellslinger | Treasure Tokens
Red has a little of everything: want to generate card advantage? Try exile strategies with Wild Magic Sorcerer and Wrenn's Resolve. Want to put big creatures in your graveyard to reanimate them later? Discard them with Lightning Axe while also killing something from another side of the battlefield. How about create some treasure tokens with Professional Face-Breaker and put those tokens to good use with Makeshift Munitions or Rain of Riches? Whatever way you go, red has you covered.
+1/+1 Counters | Tokens | Exile
Do you want to pump up your whole team with Return off the Wildspeaker while also making sure you have the lands to cast your End-Raze Forerunners? Then green is the color for you. With the only color that truly consistently ramps, green strategies allow players to create menaces out of every single board by being able to not only grow their creatures but also keep up with any other theme by making sure it always casts its spells. And just in case you want to get back your big haymakers, make sure to include cards like Eternal Witness or even Life from the Loam to fill your graveyard and not miss out on any land drops.
Two Colored Archetypes Multiple Spells | Blink | Tokens
This two color combination leans heavily on the "enters the battlefield" aspect of its creature cards and protects this strategy with a multitude of counterspells. There are some token generators in both colors, but the commanders usually ask for a slow and grindy value that generates card advantage and disrupts your opponents.
Graveyard | Sacrifice
A commander that has remained since the conception of the cube has been The Scarab God. Not only is a powerful cards that players are excited to draft, I already had a copy of it! It represents a lot of what the color combination wants to do most of the time. But, as with most of the color pairs, having a single archetype didn't feel like great.
So, as I was coming up with ideas for other combinations, black has a big sacrifice theme, so I decided to jump on that boat. This pair feels pretty powerful as blue has a lot going for it, but I feel like the archetypes are not the easiest to draft so it balances out.
Discard/Graveyard | Exile | Sacrifice/Tokens
In contrast with Dimir, I noticed that too many players drafting
focused on the sacrifice archetype and this was generating problems. Some players would end up with a very concise deck but would not draft a wincon and vice-versa. So I decided to remove the theme from Rakdos altogether and give it other tools to powerup the existing synergies it wanted to have.
The discard in (and a little bit in ) was a great way to fill in the graveyard with stuff to reanimate later while also churning through the deck.
The exile theme is just in Prosper, Tome-Bound, but the deck is very self-sufficient with its impulsive draw so the slot is very easy to fit in. Also, did you know that you cast cards with the Madness ability from exile? I didn't, but now I know!
+1/+1c | Tokens | Exile
When finding themes for combinations with
, I tried to stay away from "landfall" strategies since color combinations lacking didn't have the ramp the color provided. I want the color to be able to ramp, but I don't it to ramp so much that other colors can't compete with it in battles of attrition.
So the themes I went with were primarily +1/+1 counters and Tokens, as both strategies seemed to work really well together. Putting counters is just a powerful strategy on its own right, and the token theme shows up on other color combinations, so it came together alright.
+1/+1c | Tokens | Blink
Selesnya wasn't as hard to come up with themes for as tokens and +1/+1 counters are much more present than any land based ones. The difficult choice was finding the right commanders for the job. When picking commanders for the cube, its not just about choosing something that just fits the theme. I'm also trying to find legendary creatures that can be played inside multiple decks.
King Darien XLVIII is a good example of this. The card does a lot, and while choosing Hamza, Guardian of Arashin as your commander might be the better choice, you're still happy having the legendary 3 drop in your deck as he's a fantastic manadump and just overall good card. But if you picked up a Naya commander first, but couldn't find a lot of that make a coherent deck, the King might have to helm the games moving forward.
Sacrifice | Tokens | +1/+1c
Another color pair that was easy to choose themes for but hard to choose commanders. Orzhov has been a very popular color combination amongst commander players, and for good reason. Generating value from sacrificing your creatures is just fun and I wanted to play with that theme.
With the advent of Strixhaven, the theme of +1/+1 counters came to be in and I also wanted to bring that to the cube. While the themes are more spread out in other colors than this color pair, I still feel there is enough cohesion to build powerful decks.
Spellslinger | Goad | Treasure Tokens
The unfortunate thing about Izzet is that overwhelming majority of its commanders care about Instant or Sorceries, making it difficult to choose commanders that weren't just better versions of others.
and both have powerful spells to justify the archetype, but I wanted the color combination to be more than just that. Enter Goad and Treasures.
With the focus on treasures in multiple formats, it was easy to fit the theme in. While the only commander that really supports it is Galazeth Prismari, any player drafting can easily pick up a few treasure cards on their draft and come out with a reasonable deck.
The Goad theme came up with the release of Firkraag, Cunning Instigator. While there aren't many cards that mention Goad, the commander is pretty self sufficient and the mechanic is pretty disruptive, allowing the Dragon to gain tempo by distracting big threats and drawing cards.
Sacrifice | +1/+1c | Graveyard
If there was one commander I wanted in this cube, it was Meren of Clan Nel Toth. The legendary shaman was the most popular Golgari commander in EDHREC for a good while, being a very good representation of what the color pair can and wants to do. Other commanders were chosen around her, and that honestly made it easier and cooler to choose the commanders, as it gave me a good direction to follow.
+1/+1c | Combat | Sacrifice
The complaint many Magic: the Gathering players have with the Boros color combination is that the overwhelming majority of its commanders focus on combat, and that is a complaint I share.
It was not easy finding legendary creatures that escaped that theme, or at least provided a spin on it, but I think not only Wizards is trying to find interesting ways to create new combat scenarios, but I also think I should embrace that aspect a little bit more and see how I can power that up instead of sacrificing too much to fit commanders that are too speculative.
+1/+1c | Tokens
Remember when I said it was difficult finding commanders that didn't really care about "landfall" in Gruul? Well, that was WAY harder in Simic. Thankfully, with Strixhaven, the token theme in Simic has become a staple in the color pair, and Ezuri, Claw of Progress honestly ties it all together very nicely. Three Colored Commanders
The three colored legendary creatures are not the main focus of the archetypes as there aren't nearly as many to work with. I won't go into detail about each color combination, but the commanders chosen either are generically powerful enough to support the cards mentioned in the archetypes or really play into the strategies mentioned in at least a pair of colors. Five Colored Commanders
Draft Urza, Academy Headmaster as your commander I dare you