While all pre-constructed Commander decks are able for just playing casually, some are better than others. Certain pre-made Commander decks are so good that they can stand up to other player’s homemade ones, which is a nice way for players to quickly be able to play at their local stores. Alternatively, some are less competitive but much simpler to understand. These are perfect for beginners looking to learn.

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10 Token Triumph Teaches New Players One Of The Simplest Strategies

This Deck Focuses Primarily On Creating Creature Tokens

Token Triumph is one of Magic’s Starter Commander decks from 2022. This set of decks was specifically designed to focus on simpler strategies, so new players could understand the fundamentals of Magic and the Commander format. These decks were relatively inexpensive compared to many other Commander decks, which made them a perfect jumping-on-point for new players.

Of this group, Token Triumph stood out as one of the better decks for new players. It focused on a relatively simple strategy of creating creature tokens. Token decks like this seek to fill the board with a lot of creatures and win through combat. This is a much easier-to-follow strategy for players who don’t yet know the best way to create wild combos or pull off moves that require precise sequencing.

This is a green and white deck, which is one of the best color combinations for token decks. This means if players wanted to upgrade it to be more competitive, they would already have a good land base and some token deck staples like Eternal Witness and Rootborn Defenses. The deck also includes good mana ramp and card draw, meaning players are less likely to run into one of Magic’s most frustrating features: having nothing to do on their turn.

9 Mutant Menace Can Eliminate Players Surprisingly Fast

Commander Damage Allows Players To Take One Another Out Quicker

Magic: The Gathering’s Fallout decks were all a treat for fans of the game series, but the best one overall was Mutant Menace. This deck included many fan-favorite monsters from across the Fallout series, like Deathclaws and Mirelurks. It also includes some notable NPCs like Lily Bowen, Raging Grandma, and Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet. Aside from just having excellent references to several Fallout games, Mutant Menace can also pack a serious punch with its commander.

If players focus on distributing rad counters, The Wise Mothman can quickly buff itself with +1/+1 counters. Thanks to having the flying keyword, Mothman can get around many blockers, allowing players to attack their opponents directly. In Commander, if a player takes 21 damage from another player’s commander, they are immediately eliminated. If players keep buffing Mothman with its own ability and other cards like Biomass Mutation, they will likely be able to take out at least one of their opponents with Commander damage.

8 Grand Larceny Allows Players To Play With Their Opponents’ Cards

By Focusing On Stealing Cards, Players Can Even The Field

The Grand Larceny deck from Outlaws of Thunder Junction focuses largely on stealing opponents’ cards. This can be a very helpful strategy for a budget deck being piloted by a newer player. New players often have to contend with extremely powerful - and expensive - cards that they likely don’t have yet if they aren’t heavily invested in Magic. By playing a deck that steals cards, players can hope to luck into some of their opponents’ strongest cards and even the playing field. Stealing cards doesn’t just provide a benefit, but also deprives the opponent of a good card.

This deck’s commander, Gonti, Canny Acquisitor gives players an easy way to steal some of their opponents’ cards. Gonti also makes it easier to cast those cards, meaning players can get more powerful cards out even earlier than their opponents could have. Though this deck isn’t too powerful right out of the box, it lends itself nicely to being upgraded over time. Players can also rely on luck and their opponents’ cards to improve their game.

7 Explorers Of The Deep Gives Players Plenty Of Resources

This Merfolk Deck Supplies Players With Consistent Land And Cards

Explorers of the Deep is a deck that focuses on merfolk. Merfolk is a creature type in Magic that has very strong synergy, so this is a good deck for players looking to get into building what’s known as a kindred deck. Kindred decks focus on one creature type and include cards meant to those creatures specifically, and their strategies more generally. Master of the Pearl Trident from this deck, for example, will make all other Merfolk stronger, and be able to get past some opponents’ blockers.

Aside from focusing on one of Magic’s best creature types for a kindred deck, Explorers of the Deep also has an incredibly powerful commander. Hakbal of the Surging Soul can help players draw extra cards, and place extra lands on the battlefield relatively consistently. By ensuring players have a constant stream of new resources, Hakbal of the Surging Soul ensures they can respond to their opponents’ threats and create some of their own.

6 Squirreled Away Is Cute And Deadly

Squirrel Decks Can Often Snowball Dangerously

Squirreled Away is both a Squirrel kindred deck and a token deck, meaning there is a lot of for both of this deck’s focuses. Squirrels in general are pretty good at generating tokens, and they also have great payoffs for having more squirrels. This deck’s commander, Hazel of the Rootbloom, not only generates more tokens but can also utilize those tokens to create mana. Its alternate commander, Chatterfant, Squirrel General, also makes more tokens and can sacrifice them to destroy or buff creatures.

This deck also has somewhat of an Aristocrats theme, meaning players can sacrifice their own creatures for benefits. This is a good pairing with a deck that generates a lot of tokens, as it means more resources for these types of abilities. With versatility being a major factor in Magic, a deck like Squirreled Away that presents many different uses for its cards can be pretty powerful.

5 Veloci-Ramp-Tor Gives Players Free Dinosaurs

Using the Discover Mechanic, This Deck Can Create Major Threats Quickly

Veloci-Ramp-Tor is a dinosaur deck that was released with Magic’s Lost Caverns of Ixalan set. Dinosaurs are a relatively newer addition to Magic: The Gathering, but they have quickly established themselves as a powerful group of creatures. This deck in particular is even stronger, thanks to its ability to put large dinosaurs on the battlefield for free.

This deck’s commander, Pantlaza, Sun-Favored, allows players to discover a Dinosaur once per turn with a mana value equal to or less than the toughness of a dinosaur that entered the battlefield. This ability allows players to play that card for free, or put it into their hand if they think that is a better move. This deck includes cards like Curious Altisaur whose toughness is greater than its mana cost, meaning that it is possible to get a more expensive creature for free when casting it. This deck also includes strong format staples like Etali, Primal Storm.

4 Necron Dynasties Has Strong Tools For Utilizing The Graveyard

Necron Dynasties Perfectly Captures The Theme Of 40k’s Necrons

Necron Dynasties was one of Magic’s crossover decks with Warhammer 40,000. Much like the Necrons from 40k, this deck features creatures that just don’t seem to stay dead. Spells like Living Death allow players to return their dead creatures to the battlefield, and many of the creatures in this deck have the Unearth ability which allows them to temporarily come back to life.

This deck’s commander, Szarekh, the Silent King, gives players an easy way to fill their graveyard, which they can then likely get resources back out of. It also allows players to keep some of the cards it mills, so it works as two different kinds of card advantage. Many players also like to swap this card for the deck’s alternate commander, Imotekh the Stormlord. Imotekh adds a lot of value to all of this deck’s graveyard interaction, and can also give a single creature a significant buff each turn.

3 Heads I Win, Tails You Lose Relies On Coin Flips To Create Chaos

Coin Flip Effects In Magic Can Be Very Powerful If Players Are Lucky

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose was a special limited-run Commander deck sold through Magic’s Secret Lair website. The deck is based on one of Magic designer Gavin Verhey’s personal decks which utilizes coin flip mechanics. The deck is headed by partner commanders Okaun, Eye of Chaos, and Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom, who both offer the player benefits based on the number of times someone wins a coin flip. Zndrsplt can draw players a lot of cards, while Okaun has the chance of taking out players in a single hit if his controller wins enough coin flips.

Players also have Krark’s Thumb in this deck, which allows them to reflip coins, and Chance Encounter, which provides an alternate win condition if they can win enough coin flips. Zndrsplt and Okaun also trigger on opponents’ coin flips, so popular cards like Mana Crypt may end up drawing some cards for Zndrsplt’s controller or buffing Okaun on other players’ turns. This deck is powerful but also has an element of random chance that makes it extra exciting to play.

2 Sliver Swarm Features One Of Magic’s Most Popular Creatures

Slivers Are A Unique Hivemind Of Creatures

Slivers are a popular creature type in Commander due to their unique interaction with one another. All slivers give all other slivers the player controls - or sometimes even all slivers on the board - a specific ability. This means the more slivers that are out, the more powerful each sliver becomes. Not only is this a good mechanical representation of how the creatures are a hivemind that is quick to adapt to new circumstances, but it also makes for decks that can quickly become very powerful.

Sliver Swarm is nice because there hasn’t been a preconstructed product for a while that collects so many slivers for players. Before this deck was released, most players had to construct their sliver decks one card at a time. This deck’s commander, Sliver Gravemother, also has a new unique ability that works especially well with slivers. Even though creatures created with Encore are only around for a little bit, they still provide their buffs to all other creatures while they are on the battlefield, making them more effective than just extra attackers.

1 Eldrazi Incursion Lets Players Copy Some Of The Most Poweful Spells

Eldrazi Creatures Are Some Of Magic’s Strongest

Eldrazi Incursion is a five-color deck that is built around Eldrazi. Eldrazi are some of Magic’s most powerful creature cards, and this deck adds a few new ones to the mix. It’s commander, Ulalek, Fused Atrocity, is a highlight as it allows players to copy Eldrazi spells and all other spells or abilities on the stack that the player owns along with it. Since many Eldrazi have cast triggers, this means players will be getting a copy of a powerful creature and additional activation of its effect.

Typically, five-color commanders can be tougher to cast. Thanks to Ulalek’s hybrid mana, players will also be able to spend colorless mana to make up for the colors they are missing. This deck’s mana base is built with this in mind, including pain lands like Adarkar Wastes which can tap for two colors and be colorless. Each mana it produces brings players one step closer to summoning their commander and copying some of Magic: The Gathering’s most powerful creatures.