Summary
TheMagic: The Gatheringpreconstructed decks can be a fantastic starting point for players looking to jump right into Commander. These 100-card decks are complete, coming with all the lands, spells, and a few legendary creatures to choose to be your commander.
Precon decks are mostly made up of reprints and some of these reprints can include some very powerful cards. We took a look at some of the best cards that have come from these preconstructed decks and let you know where you can find them.
10Alhammarret’s Archive
Witherbloom Witchcraft
This artifact does two things exceptionally well, gain life and draw cards. Alhammarret’s Archive is a somewhat pricy artifact, sitting at five mana, but can significantly put you ahead of your opponents if it sticks around for a few turns.
Anytime you could gain life, the Archive gives you twice as much life instead. And if you were to draw a card outside the first one you draw in your draw step, you draw two instead. And if you havea spell that would have you draw multiple cards, let’s say three, you then get to draw six cards, as each instance of drawing a card is doubled.
9Akroma’s Will
Veloci-Ramp-Tor
One of the most powerful instant spells for protecting your creatures, Akroma’s Will is a versatile and explosive card that can turn a game in your favor or help you seal the deal on a difficult opponent. For four mana you get to pick between giving all your creatures flying, vigilance, and double strike for the turn, or you can give them lifelink, indestructible, and protection from all colors until end of turn.
The best part about Akroma’s Will is, if you control your commander, you get to pick both options, turning all your creatures into a mini Akroma herself.
8Thousand-Year Elixir
Lorehold Legacies
One of the strangest artifacts Magic has ever printed, this little jug doesn’t give your creatures haste, but instead lets you activate tap abilities as if they did. This ensures that you can use creatures immediately, not really giving your opponents much opportunities to stop you from activating their abilities.
Related:
Thousand-Year Elixir often finds itself at the center of all sorts of combo since it enables you to activate them as soon as the creatures come into play. It even lets you untap a creature so you may activate their abilities another time.
7Toxic Deluge
Food And Fellowship
One of the best mass removal spells outside of Damnation, Toxic Deluge deals with creatures in ways other board wipes cant, by reducing their power and toughness. Reducing their stats with cards like Toxic Deluge is one of thefew ways to deal with indestructible creatures, making it a reliable way to handle problematic boards.
Sure, the downside of having to pay life means you have to have the life to effectively deal with the creature you need off the board, but at the same time, the actual mana commitment is low on Toxic Deluge, so you can cast it early in the game to remove tons of creatures.
6Pitiless Plunderer
Ahoy Mateys
Uncommon cards can sometimes prove to be incredibly strong in Commander, even when they might not seem like much in other formats and Pitiless Plunderer is just one example of that. Any time another creature you control dies, you get to make a Treasure token.
Pitiless Plunderer doesn’t care if that creature was a token or not, and you can do it any number of times per turn, letting you churn through creatures, generating tons of mana and giving you a payoff for some of your sacrifice effects.
5Swan Song
Elven Council
Sitting with just one blue mana open might be just enough for your opponents to think you don’t have any tricks up your sleeves, but with Swan Song you can prove them wrong. This one mana counter spell is a little limited in scope but often is exactly what you need.
Related
Swan Song can counter an enchantment, instant, or sorcery spell, giving your opponent a 2/2 Bird token with flying. If you think giving your opponent a creature is bad, imagine instead facing down an Overwhelming Splendor or a Torment of Hailfire and that Bird seems fine.
4Branching Evolution
Explorers Of The Deep
+1/+1 counters are always a fun archetype to playin Commander, gradually increasing your creature’s power turn after turn until you’re able to outclass any creature your opponent might want to play is an extremely rewarding way to build your deck.
With Branching Evolution, you may help accelerate your counter strategy. Anytime you would put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control, you put twice that many instead, kinda like Alhammarret’s Archive but for counters.
3Heroic Intervention
Heading back to the Elven Council Commander preconstructed deck from Tales of Middle-earth, we have Heroic Intervention, a two-mana protection spell that is the catchall for any problems headed your way.
Heroic Intervention gives all your creatures hexproof and indestructible for a turn, helping you to dodge everything from targeted removal, to board wipes, to unfavorable combat situations. This is one of the premiere protection spells in Magic, making it essential for practically any deck with green in it.
2Exquisite Blood
Blood Rites
A very simple card on the surface, Exquisite Blood is one of the more concise Magic cards on this list. Anytime an opponent loses life for whatever reason, you gain that much life as well. Loss of life can come from anywhere, combat damage, spell effects, payment for abilities, and more.
Exquisite Blood also combos infinitely with another similar card, Sanguine Bond, which makes your opponents lose life when you gain life, creating an infinite cycle that ends with their defeat.
1Flawless Maneuver
Rebellion Rising
Part of a cycle of free spells that are contingent on whether you control a commander, Flawless Maneuver has only seen one reprinting from its original release back in the Commander 2020 collection.
Flawless Maneuver is similar to Heroic Intervention, a protection spell that gives your creatures indestructible for the turn. While it doesn’t give hexproof, you can bait your opponents to casting a board wipe by seemingly overcommitting to the board and tapping out your mana only to cast this for free if you have your commander.
