The most popular format of Magic the Gathering is Elder Dragon Highlander, better known as Commander. Created to be a casual format, it quickly spawned a more competitive meta for players who compete to win. With that in mind, these are the best competitive Commander decks in Magic: The Gathering.
If you’re new to Commander, you might be wondering what’s the difference between a casual and competitive deck? The main differences are the power level of certain cards and the way in which a cEDH deck plans to win.
All cEDH decks use cards that are incredibly powerful and seem borderline broken. Most cards in this category are generally banned in most other formats, are notoriously rare, and fetching high prices. The same holds true for the use of original dual lands from the earliest sets.
When it comes to a cEDH deck’s strategy to win, it’s usually based around an infinite combo of sorts. This combo allows the player to either gain infinite mana, draw their entire deck, make everyone else lose immediately, or outright win on the spot.
To accomplish this, decks will include fast mana to help fix their mana base and ramp spells. This is a normal part of MtG, but the cards used for cEDH are relatively overpowered and pricey. Examples of these cards include Ancient Tomb, Mana Crypt, and the set of Moxes.
And in order to get the combo consistently and quickly, cEDH decks will also run tutor cards that let players search their decks for specific cards. Again, this is an acceptable part of playing MtG, but the tutor cards used in cEDH are the best of the best. Examples of these cards include Mystic Tutor and Entomb.
Now let’s take a look at 10 of the most powerful cEDH commanders, their winning strategies, and explore some of the key cards that you should put into your decks.
Urza, Lord High Artificer
For all the mono-blue players out there, this is an obvious choice. Arguably the most famous character in all of MtG history, having Urza in your command zone is almost game-ending enough. And with this deck, you’ll wield power on that level. The Urza commander allows you to make more blue mana by tapping artifacts and also summons an artifact creature that gets stronger with more artifacts in play. And to top it all off, his artifact tapping ability allows you to bypass stax effects from cards you play like winter orb and static orb.
The main win condition for this deck is the Polymorph and Proteus Staff Combo that allows you to generate infinite mana with Hullbreak Horror. You can also gain infinite mana using Power Artifact plus Grim Monolith combo. As backup, you can also play the Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal combo to untap infinitely. To complete this deck, you’ll want to include the most powerful blue counterspells to protect your combos. And also include blue’s most powerful staples for card draw, and tutors to get your combos pieces. You should also add stax artifacts for more control.
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
With Inalla, you’ll have access to fast one-card combos thanks to her ability to copy non-token wizards and give them haste. This means you can win on turn one with the best hand. And if not, you’ll always be threatening to win every turn with the right card. Wanderwine Prophets is a perfect example. This card results in a hasty token with the original in exile, attack with the token, and sacrifice it to take an extra turn. The real card returns, and repeat.
For this deck, you’ll have access to blue’s counterspells and card draw. With black, you can add explosive mana ramp with Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual, as well as the best tutors in the game. You can also use reanimator cards to keep your wizards coming back for more. There are plenty of powerful wizards to put in this pseudo-tribal deck, some examples being:
- Thassa’s Oracle
- Spellseeker
- Scholar of the Ages
- Bloodline Necromancer
- Winter Eladrin
Red splashes powerful staples like:
- Wheel of Fortune
- Final Fortune
- Rite of Flame
- And any direct damage if you need it.
Oswald Fiddlebender
There aren’t many powerful mono-white commanders and decks, so Oswald is definitely worth playing if you enjoy white and using artifacts. White has the most stax control effects that make it harder for your opponents to play the game. His power is a powerful and consistent tutor effect that allows you to break rule of law effects. You can quickly piece together stax combos and win with whichever combo is best suited for your particular game.
This deck will be very artifact heavy, so make sure you include cards such:
- Clock of Omens
- Codex Shredder
- Immovable Rod
- Pithing Needle
- Damping Sphere
- Rings of Brighthearth
- Sphere of Resistance
- Trinisphere
- Torpor Orb
- Uba Mask
You’ll also want to run plenty of fast-mana artifacts including the entire suite of Moxes. You can supplement your artifacts with creatures like: