The BEST Magic Commanders for Beginners | EDHREC Top 100
The BEST Magic Commanders for Beginners | EDHREC Top 100
In this video, I go through my picks for the top 10 Commanders for beginners to play. I used SIX criteria when making this list:
– I only looked at the top 100 Commanders on EDHREC when building this list. When I started recording this video, there were 2,278 Commanders you can choose from…that’s a lot. I wanted to narrow the field but also didn’t want to dig into obscurity.
– I wanted each Commander to be 2-3 colors because mono-color decks can be a bit linear and 4-5 color decks are expensive choices when you start upgrading lands. My personal preference is 3-color Commanders because that 3rd color opens up a lot of design options for your deck. But I think 2-color Commanders are best for beginners because they’re a little more consistent on a budget.
– No typal decks – My stance on typal decks is they are probably the BEST place for beginners to start, but they’re also the most obvious type of deck to play. Slam some creatures that all share a type, buff them up and swing in. Nothing wrong with that and I’ve got a few typal decks myself. However, typal decks don’t play all that different from game to game. I wanted to introduce unique strategies to consider. If there’s a creature type you really enjoy the idea of, I highly recommend you start by building a Commander deck around them.
– You’ll find that all 10 Commanders on this list support different archetypes – the main strategy of the deck. I wanted to include as much variety as I could – which is why each Commander had to do something different on this list.
– You won’t find any Izzet (Red/Blue) decks on this list as they’re primarily a Spellslinger archetype that trends toward being very combo heavy. You also won’t find stuff like Wheels, which forces your opponents to discard their hand and is generally considered less fun to play against. No overly complex or “mean” archetypes.
-Lastly, no Simic. Blue/Green is all about ramping as fast as possible and drawing an excess amount of cards. It’s a great strategy for beginners because the deck hardly struggles to be efficient, but it’s not always the most realistic version of Magic. Learning how to build around weaknesses is a great building block for beginner Commander players and I just don’t think Simic has many weaknesses.
Here’s a list of each Commander *SPOILER WARNING*:
0:00-0:21 – Intro
0:22-2:02 – Queen Marchesa
2:03-4:34 – Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit and Sam, Loyal Attendant
4:35-6:02 – Jetmir, Nexus of Revels
6:03-7:37 – Marneus Calgar
7:38-9:20 – Animar, Soul of Elements
9:21-10:25 – Teysa Karlov
10:26-12:42 – Alela, Artful Provocateur
12:43-14:11 – Eriette of the Charmed Apple
14:12-16:06 – The Wise Mothman
16:07-17:40 – Lord of the Nazgul
17:41-20:10 – In Conclusion
20:11-20:31 – Outro
TAGS
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Besr commanders for beginners…. started with a mechanjc that is not always played and may be missed even by casual players… also pointed out that politics plays a major role in the deck…. for beginners……..
Actually, Animar could be replaced with Henzie, "Toolbox" Torre, if you are worried about the colors. He offers tons of variety on how to build the little devil Rogue, while providing a good building block by focusing more on creatures. It’s a very popular Commander for a reason.
You should have titled this video "How to become enemy #1 at any table." A lot of KoS commanders and the objects that enable them are also must kill. I think commanders that hang back and are much less assuming are better for new players, gives them a chance to get in the game without getting smoked every time they play a card. I mean come on…Animar for newbies? The Wise Mothman? Lord of the Nazgul? Jetmir!!? Nah dude. Finally, the pieces that these decks need to operate well/efficiently are very expensive in dollars. (Anointed Procession or doubling season, Mesmeric Orb, fast mana Dual lands and so on) I appreciate your efforts here and I think you have a great list, just not for newbies. Still gave you the thumbs up though, cause I think you did a great job on the video. Will be subbing to see what other great stuff you got! Thanks for the efforts.
Only Magnus seemed like a good simple option for a beginner to build around, if they have the precon they have a solid list, and if they’re looking to expand they know that token making is a go-to thing to look for first.
The rest come with too many triggers and fiddly points that a veteran would enjoy figuring out, but a beginner would just miss these triggers and get lost in figuring out when to crack food open to make the most out of it, do they keep one for later or only use it to trigger Frodo? What level of the ring are they on? Are they even assumed to know basic mtg mechanics or are they struggling to remember what cards are permanents while you are telling them to have an emblem on hand for the ring.
Aristocrats I think are a terrible first deck, too many triggers, too passive a playstyle is encouraged. Animar is kill on sight, too easy to snowball with.
I think Talrand offers a far simpler spellslinger token strategy for beginners to learn.
Naya I have noticed tends to flow really smoothly for new players, so most attack based commanders there will do.
On average I don’t see many new players being good at politicking, if you know the player will like it, then I absolutely do agree with Queen Marchesa, the small bean mentality players will flock to monarchy and beg people not to attack them.
Alela is a good choice, simple straightforward "play X to get Y", and Y is something to attack with.
Eriette, I’d prefer a voltron aura commander that doesn’t make players secondguess whether or not giving someone else a gamewinning enchantment buff is a good idea after that creature survived a board wipe or Eriette is removed.
Instead of Jetmir, I use Rocco Street Chef asa a counter deck commander
Is there any way you can provide a list of the commanders? Trying to build alela, but every list is outdated it will be good to find ideas. thx in advance.
need to talk to the 8 dudes making mono red lifegain
My buddy who is new to Magic started off with Eldrazi, didn’t really understand it much, then I let him play my sliver deck and he loved it! So I gave him my slivers. Then he started getting frustrated when everyone would target him, so then he started understanding threat assessment. After he tried Caeser from the fallout set and really liked the token mechanics. So when bloomburrow came out he wanted to try Belo, little too limited for his liking but by then he was able to keep up on his triggers and abilities. So, he wanted to try something different and more recently I had him pull out his Yuma deck. Explaining to him to think of his graveyard as an extention of his hand since that deck likes to self mill (which he HATED doing the first couple times playing it) and he was just going off! It’s amazing watching friends grow with the game and seeing their progress. We are hoping to get him into some drafts at our LGS soon so he can learn how to build basic decks before having him make his own commander! Great video also, just wanted to share!
Jetmir and animar are not for beginners. Jetmir will get you taken out first and animar is a infinite combo general that is KOS.
I highly recommend mono green omnath. You can have a lot of fun with a bunch of mana, and with all the crazy cards nowadays people will leave you be till its too late.
Thanks for this video! I am searching and browsing as i make a comeback in mtg, and edh is now that is the most populair format being played at my lgs; and the information is just endless…… and confusing, especially what ‘precon’ to buy. My favorite colors always were dimir, and i am a lotr fan; so Lord of the Nazgul is going to be the one i will focus on making my first own deck!
I think the Best commander for beginner is Lathril ! I started with the Deck too and you can Build the decklist low or high, but its very nice and Both play stils are strong.
You have With the colors black and Green a good combination.
Kinda surprising you didn’t put Feather The Redeemed in the list. Amazing spell slinger commander that takes advantage of reoccurring your buffing instants and cheaper to make than other decks since your mainly using Cantrip spells which are dirt cheap to buy
I would add gishath to this list. Its my number 1 deck to lend out when letting new players try out magic. The deck is extremely straightforward. Ramp every turn, play a cool dino every now and then, play gishath and attack the weakest player. Then destroy the strong players with your board of massive dinos.
I really enjoy your choices here I actually built animar for my girlfriend as her first ever deck can vouch for it’s effectiveness in the hands of a new player. Not too long after that we built elenda in a very similar fashion to a teysa deck with maybe a bit more of a vampire theming.
Solid choices, I think I would hesitate to suggest a new player to build around any 3 color commander that isnt in green because so much rides or dies on mana and land base, which if playing casually, can be rough to outright buy. Green mitigates that so much that you basically just toss in a signet for your other two and staple rocks and its plenty good.
Personally for anyone new, Id point them to either the Family Matters precon or the squirrel one, name escapes me. Golgari is one of the most versatile and powerful 2 color builds and teaches new players to respect their graveyard as a resource, and therefore respect others(gy hate has never been more important) and my favorite of the Bloomburrow releases, Family Matters, has probably one of the most competent mana bases for a precon Ive seen. It could be refined, I dont think three signets are exactly necessary, but they dont hurt. Zinnia can be overwhelming to consider how to play all of those etbs, so youve got Arthur as just a straightforward, excellent combat commander.
The Frodo and Sam precon is really good, though.
I main Animar and I’ve always been told Animars discount for creatures can’t be used in X values. I’ve remade the deck multiple times due to this, was it an old rule being changed or were they just wrong?