It is entirely likely that many a Commander playgroup is approaching the final stretch of the arms race to build increasingly powerful decks full of format staples. And why not? Thanks to Eternal players and speculators seeking to offload extra pieces of the Mind Seize deck, there is a massive influx of Commander 2013 product. [card]Command Tower[/card] and [card]Sol Ring[/card] are currently affordable format staples for Commander players. However, as everyone knows, the glory of Magic is the flexibility of its deck building possibilities. As Mark Rosewater so often says, “Restriction breeds creativity.”

Earlier this year, Redditor 956Wulfe asked for deck-building advice regarding a local game store hosting a Standard Commander Challenge. The idea of a limited Commander card pool has been explored in the past. Cassidy Silver last dealt with this type of deck-building challenge when Scars of Mirrodin block was legal, building a Glissa the Traitor deck. Sheldon Menery completely dismissed the Standard Commander format as it lacks long-forgotten cards he likes to play and he feels it’s those cards that are the point of Commander. However, Sheldon’s conclusions are—quite frankly—very wrong. A Standard Commander format is an interesting challenge to all player types and inspires worthy exploration and innovation.

A playgroup may wish to try Standard Commander format for any number of reasons. First, Cassidy Silver previously noted that Standard Commander decks are a good way to depower any gaming group that has “launched the nukes.” Second, the limited Standard card pool allows deeper exploration of lesser-played card interactions. Standard Commander decks may generate some of the same surprise factor that Limited players enjoy. Third is the financial factor. If a playgroup is trying to incorporate players who are newer, lack older cards, or scale down card purchasing, Standard Commander encourages a more level footing between the various players in the group. It’s very difficult to be priced out of a format when everyone only needs one of a card and is able to play the same set of cards. Finally, a Standard Commander format also has about the same power level as the Commander 2013 product, encouraging interaction between the two. It is very easy for a player to build a Standard Commander deck out of his draft winnings/table leftovers, a Return to Ravnica-block intro deck, and the local game store’s bulk rare box. A deck like this would be competitive with the decks of players opening brand new Commander 2013 decks.

This four-part series will first cover deck-building highlights such as key cards available for typical strategies. Subsequent articles will discuss sample mono-colored deck lists and highlights, Return to Ravnica guild-colored decklists and highlights, and finally the Gatecrash guilds will be given the same treatment. There will also be some financial suggestions for the Standard player as to cards they may come across while building these decks.

Deck Building Considerations

Tutors

There are a few notable observations to make regarding the current Standard card pool. First, the current Standard Commander format, like many New World Order-designed Standard environments, has a minimal number of tutors, reducing the consistency that Eternal Commander can engender. Of all the available tutors, only black’s [card]Diabolic Tutor[/card] is completely unconditional. If a combo deck actually existed in Standard, the lack of tutors in a singleton format like Commander would make combo decks even more unlikely and aggro, control, and midrange strategies the de facto archetypes. The available tutors currently in Standard are:

Black:
[card]Diabolic Tutor[/card]

The only unconditional tutor. Orzhov, Dimir, Rakdos, Golgari, and mono-black decks will all run this card.

Green:
[card]Gatecreeper Vine[/card]
[card]Lay of the Land[/card]
[card]Seek the Horizon[/card]

Each of green’s tutors are functionally counterable basic landcycling and fairly mediocre with the amount of color fixing and mana ramp available in the format.

Izzet:
[card]Firemind’s Foresight[/card]

[card]Firemind’s Foresight[/card] may cost 5UR, but it gets a combination of cards like [card]Dissolve[/card], [card]Cyclonic Rift[/card], and [card]Blustersquall[/card]. Thanks to the overload mechanic, this is an excellent card for Izzet decks.

Golgari:
[card]Jarad’s Orders[/card]

The ability to both [card]Entomb[/card] and [card]Eladamri’s Call[/card] at the same time will work very well for Golgari.

Artifact:
[card]Ring of Three Wishes[/card]
[card]Traveler’s Amulet[/card]

Any player building for a Standard Commander challenge in today’s Standard should presume that each opponent will be running [card]Ring of Three Wishes[/card]. It’s comparable to a slightly-more-expensive [card]Jayemdae Tome[/card] for decks lacking card draw and is an obvious, extremely-strong multiple-use tutor, especially for control and ramp decks. Lastly, [card]Traveler’s Amulet[/card] functions as a basic landcycling spell for all decks.

Mana Acceleration

Ramp decks must have a strong green component. Outside of [card]Chromatic Lantern[/card], [card]Darksteel Ingot[/card], guild Cluestones, guild Keyrunes, and [card]Opaline Unicorn[/card], non-green Standard Commander decks have few options. Green decks can utilize up to twelve additional mana accelerants and/or mana fixers which include:

[card]Axebane Guardian[/card]
[card]Elvish Mystic[/card]
[card]Gyre Sage[/card]
[card]Into the Wilds[/card]
[card]Karametra’s Acolyte[/card]
[card]Mana Bloom[/card]
[card]Manaweft Sliver[/card]
[card]Ordeal of Nylea[/card]
[card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card]
[card]Verdant Haven[/card]
[card]Voyaging Satyr[/card]
[card]Deathrite Shaman[/card]

Obviously Nylea, Selesnya, Simic, Golgari, and Gruul decks will have a very specific advantage over other Standard Commander decks. In addition to these available green cards, don’t be surprised if every deck runs a copy of [card]Burnished Hart[/card] as a colorless substitute for [card]Ranger’s Path[/card] to accelerate or fix mana. Most mono-colored decks will also try to squeeze in [card]Chromatic Lantern[/card] and [card]Darksteel Ingot[/card] for additional mana ramp. All the guild-colored decks will most likely run the appropriate guild Cluestone and Keyrune for additional card draw and battlefield body. Some players will happily note that [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card] has some difficulty maintaining its normal mana ramp effectiveness in this format due to lack of fetchlands and mass land destruction.

Financially, [card]Chromatic Lantern[/card] is an excellent foil to pick up for Commander. The card’s relevance despite its comparison to [card]Coalition Relic[/card] is undisputed and will be a staple for years. [card]Burnished Hart[/card] in foil is another card to keep an eye on as a possible Commander staple. The ability to recur [card]Burnished Hart[/card] and immediately fetch out two more lands is very appealing to graveyard recursion decks such as [card]Karador, Ghost Chieftain[/card] or Golgari decks such as [card]Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord[/card].

Card Advantage

Most importantly, card draw is heavily concentrated in blue, black, and green, putting white, red, and Boros decks at quite a disadvantage. Izzet has a superior amount of card draw with [card]Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius[/card] as a Commander and [card]Mercurial Chemister[/card] in the deck. [card]Mercurial Chemister[/card] is a creature that has been showing up more often in Grixis Eternal Commander decks and has proven its worth to both repeatedly draw cards and remove creatures. Simic similarly has lots of options for card draw with [card]Prime Speaker Zegana[/card] being a Commander, but is less abusable than [card]Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius[/card]. (Red is not included on the below list because none of the cards offer consistently pure card advantage.)

Blue:
[card]Bident of Thassa[/card]
[card]Divination[/card]
[card]Inspiration[/card]
[card]Jace, Architect of Thought[/card]
[card]Jace, Memory Adept[/card]
[card]Opportunity[/card]
[card]Ordeal of Thassa[/card]
[card]Prescient Sphinx[/card]
[card]Prognostic Sphinx[/card]
[card]Scroll Thief[/card]
[card]Stealer of Secrets[/card]
[card]Thassa’s Emissary[/card]
[card]Thassa, God of the Sea[/card]
[card]Windreader Sphinx[/card]

As expected, blue will have vanilla draw spells, repeatable draw triggers, and repeatable scrying to find key cards and refill the hand.

Black:
[card]Liliana of the Dark Realms[/card]
[card]Altar’s Reap[/card]
[card]Blood Scrivener[/card]
[card]Dark Prophecy[/card]
[card]Erebos, God of the Dead[/card]
[card]Read the Bones[/card]
[card]Underworld Connections[/card]

Black will have to deal with sacrificing creatures or paying life to draw cards. The trade-off will be frequently worth it. Financially, it may be worth it to try and pick up foil [card]Read the Bones[/card] as a throw-in on trades. The card has been discussed by Vintage players as very playable and is an excellent utility staple for Eternal Commander players.

Green:
[card]Garruk’s Horde[/card]
[card]Garruk, Caller of Beasts[/card]
[card]Nylea’s Presence[/card]
[card]Seek the Horizon[/card]
[card]Warriors’ Lesson[/card]

If green needs to put creatures or lands into hand or is able to do damage with creatures, these are the cards to expect.

Azorious:
[card]Isperia, Supreme Judge[/card]
[card]Righteous Authority[/card]
[card]Sphinx’s Revelation[/card]

Orzhov:
[card]Triad of Fates[/card]

Conditional and slow, [card]Triad of Fates[/card] is a terrible draw engine that opponents can probably dismiss. It’s only included on this list for completeness.

Dimir:
[card]Bane Alley Broker[/card]
[card]Coerced Confession[/card]
[card]Notion Thief[/card]
[card]Pilfered Plans[/card]
[card]Soul Ransom[/card]
[card]Whispering Madness[/card]

For blue and black, most of the Dimir cards are less noteworthy than the straight mono-blue or mono-black cards available. [card]Notion Thief[/card], [card]Pilfered Plans[/card], and [card]Whispering Madness[/card] are the exceptions.

Izzet:
[card]Blast of Genius[/card]
[card]Mercurial Chemister[/card]
[card]Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius[/card]
[card]Steam Augury[/card]
[card]Thoughtflare[/card]

Simic:
[card]Bred for the Hunt[/card]
[card]Give // Take[/card]
[card]Prime Speaker Zegana[/card]
[card]Unexpected Results[/card]
[card]Urban Evolution[/card]
[card]Zameck Guildmage[/card]

Most of the Simic draw spells are conditional on +1/+1 counters or functionally work as cycling. [card]Prime Speaker Zegana[/card] and [card]Urban Evolution[/card] are the exceptions. Both of these cards are excellent pick-ups in foil.

Golgari (repeatable, conditional scrying):
[card]Reaper of the Wilds[/card]

This card’s effect is very unique in Magic, particularly for Golgari colors, and picking up some foil copies as trade throw-ins may be a good idea.

Artifact (repeatable scrying):
[card]Witches’ Eye[/card]

[card]Witches’ Eye[/card] is possibly one of the most interestingly innocuous cards available to a Standard Commander deck. For the sorcery speed cost of {2} and tapping a creature, any deck can scry repeatedly regardless of color. This is as close to [card]Crystal Ball[/card] as a deck builder will find in this environment outside of [card]Thassa, God of the Sea[/card]. Since [card]Crystal Ball[/card] is often called a “budget player’s [card]Sensei’s Divining Top[/card]” by Commander players, this card may have its place in the environment.

Creature Removal

Lastly, creature removal will most likely be one of the most difficult aspects of a Standard Commander challenge. This format is missing many of the more-efficient, non-conditional, flexible, and instant-speed staples and board wipes available in the Eternal card pool. Mass creature removal is mostly the domain of white and blue, making Azorious the most obvious creature and board control guild. Due to the power of the Theros gods, cards that can exile a creature should probably be given “staple” status. A list of possible removal and board wipes in Standard Commander looks like this, but is not a conclusive list:

White:
[card]Angelic Edict[/card]
[card]Angel of Serenity[/card]
[card]Banisher Priest[/card]
[card]Celestial Flare[/card]
[card]Elspeth, Sun’s Champion[/card]
[card]Luminate Primordial[/card]
[card]Spear of Heliod[/card]
[card]Planar Cleansing[/card]
[card]Trostani’s Judgment[/card]

Blue:
[card]Ætherize[/card]
[card]Colossal Whale[/card]
[card]Curse of Swine[/card]
[card]Cyclonic Rift[/card]
[card]Rapid Hybridization[/card]
[card]Sea God’s Revenge[/card]
[card]Voyage’s End[/card]

Black:
[card]Assassin’s Strike[/card]
[card]Doom Blade[/card]
[card]Grisly Spectacle[/card]
[card]Hero’s Downfall[/card]
[card]Keepsake Gorgon[/card]
[card]Launch Party[/card]
[card]Liturgy of Blood[/card]
[card]Shadowborn Demon[/card]
[card]Sip of Hemlock[/card]
[card]Ultimate Price[/card]

Red:
[card]Anger of the Gods[/card]

Azorious:
[card]Azorious Charm[/card]
[card]Detention Sphere[/card]
[card]Supreme Verdict[/card]

Orzhov:
[card]Ashen Rider[/card]
[card]High Priest of Penance[/card]
[card]Merciless Eviction[/card]
[card]Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts[/card]
[card]Triad of Fates[/card]

Boros:
[card]Chained to the Rocks[/card]

Selesnya:
[card]Selesnya Charm[/card]

Dimir:
[card]Far/Away[/card]

Simic:
[card]Simic Charm[/card]

Rakdos:
[card]Dreadbore[/card]

Golgari:
[card]Gaze of Granite[/card]
[card]Putrefy[/card]
[card]Vraska the Unseen[/card]

Colorless:
[card]Ratchet Bomb[/card]
[card]Volatile Rig[/card]

The Mana Base

Decks in a Standard Commander format are quite limited in the number of utility lands and dual lands available. Two of the three types of dual lands (the ten guild Gates and five scrying Temples) must enter the battlefield tapped, further reducing the speed of non-green decks. The third type, shocklands, allow the expected flexibility with loss of life, but have no stereotypical fetchlands to pair with them. The remaining utility lands that are applicable to the format are:

[card]Encroaching Wastes[/card]
[card]Grove of the Guardian[/card]
[card]Mutavault[/card]
[card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card]
[card]Rogue’s Passage[/card]
[card]Shimmering Grotto[/card]
[card]Thespian’s Stage[/card]
[card]Transguild Promenade[/card]
[card]Unknown Shores[/card]

A player using [card]Encroaching Wastes[/card] has the possibility to knock an opponent out of a crucial color or utility land at the right time. It is reasonable to assume every deck will be running [card]Encroaching Wastes[/card]. Due to this safe presumption, Standard Commander brewers will probably want avoid running [card]Shimmering Grotto[/card], [card]Thespian’s Stage[/card], [card]Transguild Promenade[/card], and [card]Unknown Shores[/card]. Additionally, [card]Shimmering Grotto[/card] and [card]Unknown Shores[/card] are simply inefficient to use and are unfetchable with [card]Burnished Hart[/card], making them even less desirable. Basic lands are less flexible, but they’re much less complicated in this narrow card pool.

Summation

Notably, Standard Commander is currently missing many stereotypical “enters the battlefield” creatures, exceptionally strong Equipment, and graveyard value recursion. For instance, there is currently no cheap, targeted instant speed removal for white (e.g. [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card], [card]Path to Exile[/card]), blue hard counterspells that cost less than 3 or have “draw a card” text, and flexible noncreature removal (e.g. [card]Acidic Slime[/card]) for green. The Gatecrash Primordial cycle should also have an even larger impact on longer games than they already do in Eternal Commander due to slower game development and lack of efficient board control cards. Additionally, the mana base of each deck will be impacted with the limitation of dual lands and decks run an increased risk of mana issues.

One of the issues that Standard Commander players—particularly players that power down from Eternal or Modern Standard to this format—will notice is how noncreature cards are more problematic or impactful without the ability to answer those threats. The Theros indestructible gods will be glaring for players’ inability to react outside of [card]Angelic Edict[/card], [card]Trostani’s Judgment[/card], [card]Fade into Antiquity[/card], [card]Council of the Absolute[/card], [card]Merciless Eviction[/card], or counterspells. Once a Theros god enters the battlefield, the legendary permanent will continually impact the game until it is over.

Interestingly, this Standard Commander card pool has some startling synergies that will be quite entertaining for Johnny-type players and, as previously mentioned, hearken back to Limited drafting strategies and give them extended life. For instance, [card]Trading Post[/card] allows you to recycle [card]Vial of Poison[/card] and [card]Prophetic Prism[/card]. [card]Bubbling Cauldron[/card] turns your creatures into 4/4 Angels with [card]Angelic Accord[/card]. [card]Shadowborn Apostle[/card] tutors for demons. It’s this aspect that make for a very potentially interactive and refreshing format between players that should energize playgroups willing to sleeve up a Standard Commander deck.

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