Building Your First Commander Deck

Guides · beginner

You've played a few precons and decided you want to build your own deck. Here's a path that won't overwhelm.

Step 1: Pick a commander you love

The commander is the soul of the deck. Don't pick "the strongest one" -- pick the one that makes you grin when you read it. Cards built around a commander you love survive ten games of refinement; cards built around a commander you tolerate get scrapped.

Browse <https://edhrec.com> for inspiration. Pick a legendary creature whose ability suggests a strategy.

Step 2: Decide what the deck wants to do

Every Commander deck should be able to answer "what do I want to be doing on turn 6?" in one sentence.

• Atraxa, Praetors' Voice -> "I want to be proliferating counters every turn."
• Krenko, Mob Boss -> "I want to be making goblins and swarming."
• Nekusar, the Mindrazer -> "I want to be making opponents draw cards and burn for it."

Write that sentence at the top of your deck doc. Every card should support it.

Step 3: Build the eight pillars

Every Commander deck needs the same kinds of cards: lands, ramp to speed up your mana, card draw to refill your hand, removal to answer one threat at a time, a few board wipes to reset a stalled board, win conditions that actually close the game, theme cards that do what your commander wants, and a few flex slots for pet cards and situational answers.

How many of each depends on the build method you follow. The eight pillars gives the counts this guide has always used. If you would rather be walked through step by step, the Seven-Step method is the deck builder's recommended one, and the precon baseline shows what official preconstructed decks actually run. You'll prune and shuffle as you playtest.

Step 4: Skim EDHREC for staples

For your commander, EDHREC will show the most-included cards. Don't blindly auto-include -- but use it as a sanity check. If 80% of Atraxa decks run a card you weren't going to include, ask yourself why.

Be careful: EDHREC reflects a subset of community decks. The "most included" cards are usually correct but sometimes overrated for your specific build.

Step 5: Check color identity

Every card you include must have a color identity that fits inside your commander's. To search only for cards that fit, use id<=wubg (where wubg is your commander's identity), for example f:commander id<=wubg.

Watch the operator. id:wubg, ci:wubg and commander:wubg all mean "contains at least these colors", so they also return five-color cards your deck cannot run.

Hybrid mana symbols, off-color kickers, and rules-text mana symbols all contribute. The dashboard's /deck-color-check skill catches violations automatically.

Step 6: Check the banlist + Game Changers

• See the Banlist tab for currently-banned cards.
• Check is:gamechanger on Scryfall for cards that affect bracket placement.
• If you're targeting B2, no Game Changers and no two-card infinite combos.

Step 7: Get the deck to 99 + 1

Don't overthink the last few slots. Commander decks evolve with play. Your first build is version 0; your tenth playtest will tell you what to swap.

Step 8: Playtest and iterate

Goldfish (play against no opponent) for a few practice games. Then play with friends and update.

After every game, ask:

• Which cards never came up?
• Which cards underperformed?
• Which cards I wished I had?

Cut the first two; add the third.

Common new-deckbuilder mistakes

• Too few lands. A deck that misses land drops falls behind every game. Every build method sets a land count; start from yours rather than trimming lands to fit one more spell.
• Too few card draw spells. A Commander deck without enough card draw runs out of gas.
• Too many "win cons." You need a few, not a pile of them. The rest of the deck enables them.
• No board wipes. When the table goes wide, you need a reset button.
• Too cute. Your "fun pile" of one-of jank doesn't synergize. Keep theme tight.

Use the dashboard

• /build-deck skill -- guided wizard for new decks.
• /deck-analyzer -- analyze a list for archetype, price, synergy.
• /deck-color-check -- verify color identity legality.
• /deck-game-changer-check -- check against current Game Changers list.

These shortcut a lot of the manual checking. Lean on them.