20 Surprisingly Unpopular Commanders

[@dakotapoole4293]

We went from getting 7 legendary creatures a set to over twenty. And commander decks with every new product. And way more product then we need. Alot of commander's get lost in the wash.

[@TheHomieNess]

Yeah they need to chill in neon dynasty there were over 30 legendary creatures

[@spicyuh]

@@TheHomieNess Neon Dynasty was a case where it was justified, considering how many legends were in the original Kamigawa. Although I agree that in general the number of legends in each set these days is a bit much.

[@andyspendlove1019]

I follow EDH content on a daily basis and always look forward to spoiler season, and this is the first time in my life I’ve seen Nihiloor 😂

[@spudster8887]

@@andyspendlove1019 granted that's because nihiloor is complete crap, cards with that many restrictions are just not worth jumping through the hoops

[@riremainttv7401]

Not every new release has had a edh precon.

[@apock2474]

A good number of these came out in 2021, the year where we had way too many commanders be released. The ones later in the year got passed over because of burnout

[@NightOfCrystals]

I had a Xira Arien deck, it was essentially goblin tribal with some anthems and Xira as a value card. At the end of the day, it’s just a ton of mana to pay 6 and tap a 1/2 flyer to draw a card. There’s so much more in Jund.

[@abderianagelast7868]

Yeah, this was my thought too. 3 mana and tapping a creature to draw a card is one of the worst rates I can think of, especially with how much card draw both Green and Black have nowadays. Maybe when she was first printed she'd have been a good Commander, assuming you somehow brought the rules back to before the format existed.

[@NightOfCrystals]

@@abderianagelast7868 yeah. This is it. Between Necropotence, Skullclamp, Greater Good, Momentous Fall, and the 2 mana value black draw spells, there just aren’t any reasons to pay 2x Jund to draw a card.

[@SSolemn]

My Xira Arien is a magecraft/spellslinger damage oriented deck, I really love it, and even if I have a lot of draw spells, her ability always saves me when looking for answers....

[@Closer2Zero]

I personally find the MDFC commanders to be kind of boring because you only ever get to play one side at a time and they rarely have self synergy to let you swap between them. I would much prefer to play cool MDFC creatures like the deans in a format where you could play multiple copies so you can have both on the field, as they often synergies with their other side

[@ayllipkhieu8659]

True. It’s like Partner if partner only let one of your commanders on the field. Operating with half your commanders sucks

[@94ncd]

Yeah it sucks, but honestly I think multicolor Partner commanders, was a mistake, (partners with) at least has a limitation of who and the colors. The only positive of Partner is four color commander options.

[@DarkstarAshura]

@@94ncd five color if you count "Friends Forever".

[@94ncd]

@@DarkstarAshura even then it is a specific group that can be lumped together.

[@scaevola]

@@ayllipkhieu8659 To be fair that's how partner works in duel edh

[@MainTopmastStaysail]

For Zareth San, I imagine a lot of the problem is that you can't use the ninjutsu from the command zone, so it's a 4/4 with flash but no evasion when it's a commander. It's a lot better in the 99 of a different UB rogue commander.

[@SeraphimKnight]

Kogla with Liquimetal Torque, Liquimetal Coating, Mycosynth Lattice and other similar effects is pretty great!

[@dannysanchez3525]

Well now that kibo uktabi prince is out, kogla is just redundancy no?

[@Darwingreen5]

I think the issue with Tawnos is that he was really overshadowed by Saheeli and Brudiclad. Most of these commanders, there always seems to be a similar card that either does the same thing, but they're less mana intensive or have less hoops to jump through. You get the same thing in fighting games, a lot of the best characters have good, but reliable combos or strategies. But if you have a complecated character that you have to armpit-fart Ave Maria for them to max-out their damage, they'll be more niche.

[@themasterprocrastinator]

Yup, honestly he just stays in my drawer and I doubt I'll ever take the time to do a deck with him. I had an idea around tap/untap artifact synergies, but after Brudiclad and Galazeth my thirst for Izzet artifact EDH decks is satuated ...

[@Thimbrethil]

I made Tawnos deck, when it came out, and boy ow boy, it was soo mana hungrh. No matter how much I had it was not enough.

[@batsumoto]

If someone starts armpit farting Ave Maria I would be way more interested in that than the actual game. 🤣👍🏽

[@JushakF]

Yeah. Same with Simic merfolks. There's just such an abundance of choice I don't remember what half of them do.

[@tk421eatmyshorts]

This is the same reason for Rootha. You could play her and return her to copy... or you could just play melek who has an ability that reads like “when you draw a instant or sorcery card, draw another card and do the effect twice.” If you include a few Future Sight effects, then it’s almost “ if you draw, draw again” bound only by mana

[@Finstersang]

Tahngarth, First Mate: Pretty unique Mechanic that allows for a fun mix of Voltron, Politics and Forced Combat shenanigans. Surprisingly viable and a lot more interactive than many high-powered "Solitaire" Commander Decks, since you can use your opponent´s attacks to slip in additional commander damage. Recently got the perfect combo card in Neon Dynasty with Komainu Armor and will probably get a lot more support in the future, since Goad has been declared an evergreen mechanic in the format. Only 320 Decks on EDHREC.

[@ryanrobot7975]

I was so excited when I stumbled on the combo. Just got my deck last week and it won it's first game by goading the hydra player into killing my opponents and then killing him with commander damage

[@Finstersang]

@@ryanrobot7975 Currently putting mine together as well, can´t wait to play it :D

[@SimpleVisionVideos]

Wow, I just googled Komainu Armor and I don't think there is a more perfect card for Tahngath, every word on the card is relevant

[@ryanrobot7975]

@@SimpleVisionVideos Yeah, as long as everyone has creatures, you can hit the next player and basically just win through them

[@michaelpatalano9884]

You have helped me find the love in lesser-known commanders. I just started building Tawnos last week and now youre pointing it out!!

[@michaelturner2806]

Every time I look at Ulasht I end up unable to justify not bumping up to Marath, when I already have both commanders. There's just so much more token and +1/+1 counter options available when you add white, from direct Selesnya synergy to Boros weenie anthems, plus Swords Path and Wrath effects. Maybe I should build an Ulasht deck just to see what I can do without white.

[@nailahprincessofhokuto2024]

20:54 I run embrose in the 99 of 2 of my decks. Because he cheats Lurrus's Requirements hes in my Elas Il Kor//Lurrus Aristocrats deck &hes in my Felisa Fang of Silverquul +1/+1 Counter sacrifice/Inkling deck

[@nailahprincessofhokuto2024]

Way Felisa works is I build my board up tall with a couple big creatures then I sacc em to Make it Wide & start building up my Inklings.

[@nailahprincessofhokuto2024]

Elas Il Kor has me play kinda "The best of" low mana permanents like Soul Sisters & Esper Sentinel, Gain a buncha life & sacc em for value. Then recurr them, usually with Lurrus. I use Embrose as a Sacc outlet. I put the counter on a creature that'll die to Embrose's damage. So I trigger my Commander Elas IlKor & and any other death triggers and I draw a card for Embrose. And I recast that creature using Lurrus' ability, and trigger my life gain when they reenter. It allows me to have a nice little value engine going Because his front side is less than 3 mana. I can cheat him into the deck.

[@BelfryHex]

I tried making a Tawnos deck. Much like a lot of these "unpopular" commanders, they sound REALLY good on paper, but how the function in game can be underwhelming. Tawnos is cheap, which was his biggest upside (as most popular commanders cost 4 or under, anything that costs 5-7 you'll notice their numbers dwindle rapidly in popularity just because some games are over by turn 6 when you finally cast your commander but they have summoning sickness), but as for Tawnos, what non-mana artifact are you going to copy? Myr Retriever? Meteor Golem which costs 7 + Tawnos's 2 for a total of 9 mana to destroy 2 permanents? Soul of New Phyrexia and make your permanents indestructable twice? Most artifacts don't win you the game, A lot of artifacts just untap other things or sometimes, but rarely ever do anything that gives you a solid win condition.The only way to make Tawnos viable is to get out enough VERY expensive cards to create an infinite combo loop, and then it ceases to be a game and becomes "Let me explain to you my combo on why you all lose instantly, and you can't do anything to stop it", which I think why a lot of people don't bother making a deck for these types of cards, as neat as they may sound on paper.

[@shadowfox513]

I mean I made a deck about copying charge counters/ things that activate with charge counters i.e. Lux cannon and what not, with the win con being magistrates scepter or that blue artifact overrun or mirrodin besieged. Its super janky but it's fun. edit, it also is super cheap, less than 100 USD

[@JD-gk7eh]

Also if you want to artifact combo, Breya is just way more powerful and simpler.

[@legodragon1999]

A number of these were older commanders that I knew about from reputation back whn I started getting into Magic. Sapling of Colfenor, Endrek Sahr, and Zegana were all commonly talked about cards before I even played Commander. I think a lot of it is that current commanders do so much now that people who have invested interest in EDHREC and uploading decks have moved to easier options. Zegana is out-valued by Tatyova decks, Endrek Sahr has Shirei to compete with along with Syr Konrad and Yawgmoth. And commanders like Embrose, Tawnos, and Whisper were all talked about before release, but petered out afterwards. You don't have the excuse of being old cards (sorry, Adun Oakenshield) because they were cards released in the past four years...but the past four years also had a lot of competition among commanders. Would you want to play Grazilaxx if Toski gives you better draw? Why build a spell-copying deck with Rootha if Veyran requires fewer hoops to jump through for value? But I really like this video, as it shows how much commander has changed. A lot of notable old cards and flash-in-pan new cards that just don't get a lot of love in the wider online presence.

[@FakeDonut]

Kogla I built once, and while it wasn't the most powerful, it was an extremely fun mono green human tribal deck, with cost reduction as ramp to continuisely return humans with etbs to my hand, cast them again, get all the cast triggers mono green has to offer and get into semi infinite loops. It was easy to draw 10 cards per turn that way and still have mana open, none of my humans dying because i could just bounce them to hand all the time. It was a surprisingly valuey deck for the huge monkey leading it, and honestly really fun!

[@kingfuzzy2]

Yeah he's used in budget cedh decks very surprised he's that underplayed with how strong he is.

[@RealClassixX]

#4 is easily my favourite deck I've ever build, and I barely even went for Ninjas or unblockable stuff. I tried to force my opponents to make as many interesting decisions as possible. Watching someone worry about wether they should block or not for such an interesting reason is great.

[@Tacti_Kal]

Facts. Especially seeing the struggles they have with blocking a creature with an ETB ability that can be recast later after returning to your hand. Or let me draw lmfao either way I get value regardless

[@syrupbender]

Decklist? Sounds really interesting/fun

[@coolbeans6148]

I second the deck list request

[@RealClassixX]

@@coolbeans6148 KZbin doesn't let me post links

[@coolbeans6148]

@@RealClassixX shit, stupid ass KZbin. Can i look it up on moxfield or wherever? Im about to build it today.

[@olburgle2841]

Oddly enough MTG Muddstah just released an EDH gameplay video featuring Xira Arien.

[@joedominguez8064]

I made an amazing Kogla deck. Purely by accident I discovered an infinite combo with eternal witness,karametra acolyte and bramblecrush that could wipe out every permanent my opponents had, lands included. It was a pretty spicy win out of nowhere as I was the lowest power deck at the table by far

[@k8tinator1]

I built Kogla as a joke deck, and now its my favorite deck to play. Use Liquimetal Torque and Coating to blow up any permenant with Kogla's attack trigger. Its a good time

[@Bartleby1892]

That sounds like a great moment. I think you forgot to mention a piece of the combo though, I would love to know which one. Like Vitalize or something or did you give the acolyte haste?

[@CorZ1lla]

Kogla just does so much! Being 7 power is also something.

[@thelunchlady8276]

@@k8tinator1 You have Myr Landshaper in there? Seems like an auto include.

[@kingfuzzy2]

Yeah he's a strong combo enabler in budget cedh decks for a reason.

[@Thoughtmage100]

I can personally attest that Sapling of Colfenor is a fun value engine for Golgari. She was my first ever Commander deck. The only reason why I don't play her much anymore is because her Indestructible keyword feels much less reliable these days due to the increase in spot removal that gets around it. That combined with her 5 cmc kinda makes her slower than most other decks I play against. But when she works she works like a charm.

[@inbanewetrust]

Kogla player here. I find it sometimes has a hard time winning not going the combo route. I got rid of the more voltron strategy and just more mono green stomp. IME sometimes I get focused playing it due to the removal and hitting people for a lot of damage. It’s a deck I continue to tweak.

[@CuShorts]

Kogla humans is amazing

[@Zendrig]

My MDFC Embrose deck on Arena (Historic Brawl) is pretty fun and quite strong. The thing that bugs me sometimes is that you can't flicker or reanimate/save him because he's on the backside of the card and would always return as Shaile.

[@jonas3648]

I thought about building a Grenzo deck. As Krenko is too mainstream, Grenzo is a good alternative for a goblin deck and looks actually like the most fun!

[@KeroTheInvincible]

There's so many legendary goblins out there, but mention wanting to build one, and the usual sentiment is just "why not build Krenko?"

[@hopposai787]

Build a different krenko. I have a krenko deck called krenkos toys and it only runs 4 goblins i think.

[@joshualindner338]

As someone who has had a grenzo deck for a couple of years: it is (usually) super fun to play. I rarely goad and ofc, sometimes you hit lands off the top. Other than that, it is a mono red deck making a ton of gobbos and screaming 'attack!' left and right. For later stages of the game, cards like neheb are amazing, and Bedlam is an awesome include. I had games getting sol rings, walkers and removal spells, and sometimes I only hit uncastable targets like colossus:D I guess otherwise, grenzo is an ideal inclusion in the war weaver spider as part of the 99. :)

[@ClutchKassidy]

I actually am a huge fan of Nihiloor, I've built it a couple times but I do end up taking it apart cuz of the hate it generates. Now I kinda want to try it again.

[@kingfuzzy2]

Go for it someone will one day want to play against it just like my two stax decks there are people who are into what you wouldn't expect.

[@SomethingSonofagun]

Tawnos was in the same commander precon Brudiclad was in, so I can only assume that he got massively overshadowed by the more interesting legend of that deck

[@zaclock-4228]

Kogla: I wanted to build a mono-green anti-artifact control deck for so long, but I could not find a commander on theme. Dosan was the closest, but the deck had no reliable win con. The printing of Kogla solved my problem, I built him around the concept that he is protecting his enchantress lover(s). Grenzo: I fell in love with him the moment I discovered his existence. He used to be more popular, but I think many people converted these decks around the more recent (and multicolor) goad and "cast from exile" commanders.

[@bryankopkin6869]

Ive always wanted an Ulasht deck because I see how powerful he can be. The only thing preventing me from doing it is that I have a gruul deck already, plus I also have a Slimefoot the Stowaway deck.

[@thelegendarybdawgg1302]

I'm in the middle of building a Prime Speaker Zegana deck right now. Glad you're giving her some love

[@robertoso8796]

about 2 months ago i set out to build my first proper simic edh deck and i went to edhrec to find my commander. i was immediately drawn to Tishana but when i went to order a copy i saw prime speaker zegana being suggested and picked it up on a whim. at some point i swapped zegana as commander and never looked back. it is by far my best and most consistently effective deck and i ALWAYS end up doing ridiculous shit if i manage to set up. very few people seem to see it coming when i cast zegana after vorinclex and draw 13 cards at once.

[@kingfuzzy2]

She is deffo absurd in volo

[@Sc0ttJC]

Loved my Isperia deck when I had it assembled. Loved the toolbox aspect in Azorious colors.

[@Erimioa]

I'm still working on the Morophon/Nephelim deck. It is hard to balance (I go a route with Ink-Treader Nephilim as my secret commander by casting low cmc instants on him. Cantrips who be copied for every creature on the board (card draw, together with psychosis Crawler as one Wincon example), Buffspells, who only can target my creatures (together with the other strong Nephilims, who all are attacked based) and a bunch of protection spells, because Ink-Treader would be target no. 1 for my enemies. All that works like charm with the Magecraft ability) But to find a good balance between tutors (to find Ink-Treader and Wincons), protection spells and everything else I can do is hard. Nevertheless, I built an Embrose deck shortly after I got him. I went the route with artifact creatures who comes naturaly in play with +1/+1 counters like Modular ones or all X mana colorless creatures, spieced it with some sac-outlets to put +1/+1 on them. Every time a creature died, I drawed a card, many times the counters didn't got lost but what I was missing was a winning way. Except attacking there was nothing. To be fair, I barely buying cards directly. I have a big collection by mostly buying Booster Displays or Pre-Con Decks I like. I don't say there are no cards, but I didn't have found a way with the stuff I have. I Think the problem with embrose is, that you have to have creatures who are liking to be killed and then find a way to put counters on them. That is mana intensive, you need most the time 2 cards to invest and then you can only draw one. And at the end you will build a Aristocrats deck, we all see all the time, but with extra loops to jump through and there are tons of possible better commanders in that same color. That's why he didn't got so much love.

[@Terashi]

8:25 "There's no way you can ninjitsu this from the command zone. 1) It has Flash. 2) You're in Blue, so myriad ways to move permanents to their player's hand exist. You can even do it in response to the commander taking lethal damage (or lethal damage being pointed at it, I'm not 100% on the fine print there).

[@Sanjuro333]

For Rootha, I guess what I would say is that there are many other cards that are in similar themes, but have superior art, more "coolness factor", or better colors and abilities. For example, something like Kess or Adeliz have sick art, focused themes, and occupy the same cast lots of instants and sorceries kind of theme. Also, players who already have an Izzet spellslinger deck are probably unlikely to want to pick up Rootha just so they can have another Izzet spellslinger deck, and I don't feel her ability she is compelling enough for me to retool my previous deck to fit her.

[@CosmicGiggalo]

Of the 20 listed here, Rootha is the one I continue to theory tinker with. Her downside isn't really a downside because as long as you can filter mana for blue you have the potential to also have a really explosive turn with things like Seething Song and what not. The issue for me, inevitably, is that Im really not sure how in general to close out games with a spellslinger deck. Making a massive board of dudes and turning them sideways, sacrificing to ping over and over, these make sense to me. But winning through a series of instants and sorceries that don't directly do damage just turns my brain completely off.

[@nikos731]

I run Rootha in my Zedruu 4-card combo puzzlebox and she is a powerful combo piece. Use her with a flash enabler (Leyline of Anticipation/Vedalken Orray) and Turnabout to get infinite Turnabout copies, meaning infinite mana and all your opponent's stuff tapped. Then, with all these infinite mana, Rootha and flash speed, you can cast any instant or sorcery infinite times, or use a massive X spell, or have something like a Talrand to produce infinite drakes or whatever. It will be enough to win the game.

[@brettwolfelodge7379]

Do you not have a Comet Storm? They are dirt cheap to buy now, and pretty easy to cast for X=10, multikicked 3 times with 2 mana left over to return Rootha, especially in the late stages of a game, and that's in a pretty worst-case scenario. That was just my first thought. There's lots of options. More burn spells! Happy slinging :)

[@mylesschulist4272]

I actually own a Xira Aríen deck, I built it as a group hug deck around when commander legends was coming out.

[@xerothedarkstar]

I'm building out Prime Speaker Zegana. With Ozolith, Simic Ascendancy, Body of Research, Lab Man, WotS Jace and a bunch of x/x creatures and counter shenanigans.

[@JushakF]

Hah, I used to have Ulash, the Hate Seed deck when I first started playing commander at the local university RPG club using cards from the club's card pool. The issue with it always was that it felt very much like a "feast or famine"-kind of deck: either I had a ton of tokens and Ulash got big OR all my stuff kept getting wiped and Ulash wasn't worth casting. I also remember using Endrek Sahr, but I think it was in the 99 of my Savra, Queen of the Golgari deck in the same "club meta". With Sapling of Colfenor I honestly missed that it has indestructible. I feel it just gets outshined because there are other, potentially more interesting treefolk commanders out there: in Abzan there are Doran, the Siege Tower and Colfenor, the Last Yew while in Golgari there's Nemata, Primeval Warden and Old Man Willow. All of these do more "flashy" thing than Sapling of Colfenor. That being said, I'll have to give it some serious consideration if I ever get around doing a treefolk tribal.

[@redicecreamcone7546]

Just wanted to say I love your videos man watch them after my classes are done but before I start homework while eating lunch. Always a good time!

[@keatonreinhart9585]

Oddly enough, I actually found Saryth through your videos of Questing Beast. I would 100% recommend taking a look at her over Questing Beast. The amount of synergy and layers of interaction she brings when she is on the table is the reason why I decided on using her. The interaction of Mono-green stompy tramplers combined with deathtouch? Using her as an on-board hexproof enabler akin to a mother of runes to protect a creature you just tapped to attack with? Combining her ability to untap with other untap enablers like Quirion Ranger to initiate combos with Karametra's acolyte (even better, using Scryb Ranger as an untap enabler AND a flash instant speed hexproof enabler with Saryth out). All of this ON TOP of the fact that now your weenie elvish mystics and other mana dorks can block with deathtouch so they never lose their value throughout the game. Oh and we have scattershot archer and Endbringer along with greens creature damage removal spells to deathtouch our opponents board every turn. I'll end my presentation with this scenario: have you ever attacked with a Gigantosaurus, giving it deathtouch when tapped, and casting a Ram Through on it? www.moxfield.com/decks/Rt80SieoAEWaf419RRILNg

[@andrewwebb3813]

Muzzio is my oldest and favorite deck. It’s super unique and powerful, and super fun to play, too. The randomness of his ability really gives the deck lots of replayability!

[@edhdeckbuilding]

yes i think people don't realize how good that ability is. i hear people saying that padeem is a better artifact commander. i really don't think so.

[@VVheeli]

I can tell you the exact reason I didn’t make a Nihiloor deck and why I think a good amount of people didn’t get into it besides the stealing stigma: it’s a mess of a build around. So it’s a medium-cost, major threat commander with its second effect very dependent on what you steal, and with the weird restriction of having to tap to steal creatures which gets messy if everything is swinging into you anyways to kill the steal deck. Then you want your stolen creatures to live longer for the drain effect, and it’s also in Esper so no red Act of Treason effects to use. Only expensive and inefficient blue spells. On top of that, because of the “for as long as you control Nihiloor” is there, your opponents will always target it for any removal spell since they get their stuff back on a rather vulnerable commander. And that restriction also negates the potential of a Blink/Flicker deck stealing more than 3 things at a time. It’s just a messy commander that has such a tiny niche. It gets beaten out as the mass-stealing commander by Merieke Ri Berit, sacrifice shennanigans are plentiful in Esper, and the sacc/blink/steal gameplan Nihiloor makes is just so clunky and has the stealing stigma on it.

[@20x20]

I used to play with a guy who had an Isperia deck. The idea was to swing at someone then redirect the combat damage to yourself and always guess correctly and tutor out a big flyer.

[@JackbatMurphy]

Click on this for the thumbnail after making my own kogla commander deck. He is so dope, he gives you a lot of infinite mana combos since he is a human only temur sabercat. And if you have any ETB draw cards like primordial sage or just spend mana for draw cards like duskwatch recruiter then you can just play your whole deck, kill everyone with Ulvenwald Oddity or just ping everyone to death with goblin cannon. And if you can't get the combos then kogla is still great value. Love the deck!

[@dannydiazpresents840]

I'm very happy to see Rutha on here. She's my most powerful deck by far and she always catches people by surprise. I think it just goes to show that as long as you have a good build around/strategy, any deck can be just as fun and powerful as something more popular like Omnath or Atraxa

[@kingfuzzy2]

A lot like Vilis untap storm off and win

[@rend7979]

Saryth Vipers Fang is so much better than it looks. Such a house in the 99 on my mono green deck. I think she works better in the 99 as she doesn’t have huge payoff in the command zone but is great value and protection for a creature based deck

[@hammycan]

mono color decks just aren't as popular, or as powerful as multicolored decks. I suppose the reasoning most people take is, "I can play this card in the 99 of my other deck, so why should I run it as my commander?"

[@prizum217]

My favorite deck is Nemata, Grove Guardian. It has a similar amount of decks built as some of the commanders on this list. When I look on forum posts for advice I often see "just build X, it's easier and can do more." I feel that the path of least resistance has these commanders on the lower list. If your sole goal is to win with a certain theme or color, you're not going to dig deep for less optimal commanders to do that. Underwhelming commanders need to have a deep connection to the player to continue being played. My Nemata never became a Slimefoot deck because it was the first legend I pulled from a pack back in the day. That love keeps me digging for new mono green tools and coming back to this channel to see what fun things I can do.

[@sanchezsebastian7]

I have an Embrose deck! And I must say it's actually very fun, and I've won quite a lot with it. Using Dreadhorde Invasion as a Phyrexian Arena, giving Embrose deathtouch or using High Priest of Penance as an amazing removal... You can actually do quite a lot with this Commander

[@jameslabbe4119]

I built Endrek Sahr and he was banana boats amounts of fun. I took him apart because the playstyle did get a little repetitive but with Black Market in play it was just building obscene amounts of advantage. I don't put him in the 99 exactly because then the deck just becomes a multicolored Endrek Sahr deck. One day I will rebuild it and just have Thrull fun again.

[@kingfuzzy2]

Yeah he was one of my first decks (#4) built an 18$ version and it's my deck that's won the most against the colours I like the least blue green + x. He's so underplayed he should be in the 99 and in the command zone of so many more decks.

[@panzercreed5417]

One thing I think is a auto include in any Endrek Sahr deck is Assault suit. You don't have to use the ability that transfers Endrek to other players its a may ability. The big part is, the suit makes it so Endrek can't be sacrificed. I've see it happen only once but stopping that ability makes the deck go off like no ones business.

[@antonchichona6700]

That brings the game to an infinite loop of Endrek trying to sac himself but not being able to, so the game is a draw. You still need to sac Thrulls to less than 7 in response. Hardly an auto include.

[@panzercreed5417]

@@antonchichona6700 never seen anyone mention that. Everyone just skipped that. Just played it like the trigger was turned off and just had fun playing the game.

[@SkellyBobRoss]

I enjoyed thoroughly building a thematic deck for Xira Arien that was based on her running a farm.

[@ry7hym]

yooo that sounds so cool, do you have a list somewhere?

[@goatsfluff]

I know some people disagree, but from its year's line of commander decks, I think Exquisite Invention was one of the most solid ones. That deck had Brudiclad and the Saheeli commander planeswalker in addition to Tawnos. Others have written the same. These three are very different commanders; Brudiclad is a token commander, while Saheeli is a very solid artifact commander; she makes creatures to protect herself with, she ramps you in a way artifacts often don't (essentially gives it affinity for artifacts), and her finisher is huge in an artifact deck. But Tawnos is not shabby. If you think about it, there are lots of triggers and activations you could copy. Not tapping for mana because it doesn't go on the stack, but pretty much everything else! That's Wayfarer's Bauble, the spell bombs, and you could just play lots of artifacts that do stuff. Then there's the artifact Jhoira, though. I think Tawnos was just unlucky. But I'd love to build a deck around him soon. I've thought about it before. I think there's a monored orc or goblin that does the same, but it isn't legendary.

[@greekPharaoh666]

I was going through my cmd legends legendary creatures, and i find it weird that ich-tekik isn't more popular. I find the ability intresting, especially when thinking of green as an artifact deck. Maybe i'll have to make one some day.

[@kingfuzzy2]

I partnered him with the prismatic piper and slotted all of the golems I could without cutting lands in a Simic deck. His ability is as good as the golgari sacc commanders go tall ability so surprised he isn't played more.

[@lucarioknightb7685]

@@kingfuzzy2 why not an azorious parnter so you can run all the splicers and more blink shenanigans? I assure you, it’s fun. :)

[@kingfuzzy2]

@@lucarioknightb7685 I just love Piper and didn't have an azorius partner when I built the deck. I believe you I've seen 4c splicer tribal before it's truly a sight to behold.

[@ry7hym]

Xira!! I have wanted to make a deck around her for so long, but never really found a good theme for her for Gerrard, I've seen a very spicy Boris aristocrats deck tech somewhere Prime Speaker Zegana was in my first pre-con, and I never really liked her as the main commander in the deck. Eventually I rebuilt the pre-con to a snake-tribal / unblockable matters deck with Kaseto and it's still one of my favourite decks I have Sapling of Colfenor was pretty popular like four years ago I believe. Also an interesting idea what you can do with her is to build it as a mono green or mono black deck Kogla is a commander i am considering when I go for my second mono colored decks cycle (I have just built Mowu because I had most of the cards I needed for it already. so I'll wait a little till I build another mono green deck). you can use the second ability in combination with Liquimetal Coating or Liquimetal Torque, which gives you a lot more flexibility with what you can destroy Tawnos and Rootha are such cool and interesting commanders for izzet colours I want to mention Anthoussa and Kolvori as mono green🍏 commanders as well, they both have pretty interesting effects too

[@bluesight_]

I can vouch for Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero being incredibly good. I built it mostly around eggs and sacrifice. Very different and neat to build in boros colors.

[@andrewpeli9019]

My first commander was Adun Oakenshield. Built it back in 2009 or so. Got a lot of groans playing fleshbag marauders over and over again. Also had destructive flow in that deck... what a bomb that card can be. Ultimately I tore it apart and made a Vaevictus Asmadi, the Dire deck out of it. Only way I was winning with Adun was doing tooth and nail combos and that got stale.

[@SirKrrrapsalot]

i don't know how you are supposed to submit a commander but i feel like Tromokratis would be a fun one to see you build around. Only 90 decks on EDHrec and i built one of those myself to prove that mono blue is more than just for control

[@kingfuzzy2]

He's a blast to play against and slot in the 99 blue aggro tempo is an archetype that more people should really play.

[@zansumkai]

Well I will say that I've run an Utlash the Hate Seed saproling deck. It's very easy for it to basically become Triskllion in your command zone, that can also spit out massive amounts of tokens to use to make more mana. Thinking back on it it's a deck I'd like to try again at now that I have more experience, but that list is long already 😅

[@kingfuzzy2]

You should he's a blast to play against.

[@Lit-erallyEveryone]

I’m pretty sure commanders like these are unpopular because the format is becoming saturated with infinite combo commanders, hug decks, tokens, or just vanilla good stuff, that creative builds like these take the back seat.

[@lorenzomarquez9122]

With rootha specifically I think it is the fact that combo potential is hindered by having to bounce her. Most people want to do busted things in edh. Rootha is just fair. That's my opinion on why she is unpopular.

[@audioevil112]

I feel like Rootha does enable more combos with her ability to be bounced though, for example she can infinitely loop extra turns with certain mutate creatures and can usually be set up to dodge board wipes if you play at instant speed

[@patrickbaillargeon7568]

How many decks are these in where they're not the lead? I have Graz in my Umbris deck and he's an absolute all-star. I think this video has inspired me to put Zareth and Grenzo each into the 99 of a deck I have

[@SSolemn]

I've just finished a Kurbis deck, was shocked to see just 25 decks on EDHREC xD! I really love it ....

[@angelojohnson9441]

A lot of these commanders are really good in the 99 and I saw many on this list that I use in the 99. Colfenor was a possibility when I was doing the 32 combination challenge, however, I really wanted to make a Doran siege tower deck and my black green deck ended up being wurm tribal, so Colfenor was relegated to Doran’s 99. Xira is a fragile ancestor of Arcane Encyclopedia that cam be in the command zone. That being said, she does say, target player, and in those colors you can actually make a good punishment deck, which might be an interesting way to build her, possibly putting Yurlock in the 99. Kolga is the MVP in my Lagrella deck, because yes, I do want my blink humans back in my hand to dodge a boardwipe while Kolga just powers through it. You know, maybe that is what wizards should try. Next time they try to do a standard commander, instead of saying that all of the cards need to be standard legal, just make it that the commander is either standard legal or has been printed in the last two years, because then you can have people that are playing an archetype, such as stumpy, reanimator, artifacts, and then, when a new legend that follows that archetype comes up or a new legend of that color combination comes up, then they can try simply swapping in the new commander and yes, they may have to tweak the deck a little or a lot , but I think it would be a fascinating thing for the players to revitalize older decks that they haven’t been playing, but I’m giving it a fresh spin by just trying out a new commander. They should probably just be a casual group thing maybe, I don’t know , what do you think?

[@meximan374]

Love the vid, great suggestions! Just built a Nihiloor deck. I wish it did better tho…. Almost as tough as getting The Nevinyrral deck to pop off.

[@stfinalwrath]

Naban is a really strong commander for wizard tribal that I virtually never hear mentioned. I built it as a wizard tribal deck focused on draw and it's incredibly fast at drawing cards with moderately decent draws. It's a lab man deck, I also use Jace, wielder of mysteries, but I don't run thassa's oracle because I don't find the card fun personally, it would be very strong in the deck, but I find it to be a little too boring for me. Selective Memory is the strongest card in the deck though. Being able to exile every non land card in the library once I've got a draw engine set up is so strong.

[@esxpeexef50]

Thanks for showing some love to Primespeaker Zegana. The first EDH deck I built myself was with her, had so much fun.

[@DrOmnipotent]

Love the content! A lot of these commanders are way more enabled by Paradox Engine and could lead to an awesome time. I know i personally stopped drafting a few once i realized how much they wanted it. Rip Engine friends

[@Doxicyclin]

built nihiloor and loved it, biggest gripe is the restriction on what you can steal. its only effective if your creatures to tap has a big enough power.

[@thelunchlady8276]

I have an Endrek Sahr hand disruption/control deck. One of my favorite commanders. I love his story in the lore. A lot of the others you mentioned are better in the 99, IMO.

[@kingfuzzy2]

Yeah he was one of my first decks (#4) built an 18$ version and it's my deck that's won the most against the colours I like the least blue green + x. He's so underplayed he should be in the 99 and in the command zone of so many more decks.

[@Luigi-jr1ji]

I would like to note that I don't see Grenzo as a commander for the most part because of the fact that people are playing actual Goad commanders for more color variety like Marisi of the Breaker Coil, Karazikar (or Cuddles) the Eye Tyrant, or Isshin for the Goading effect for Attack Triggers; its better in the 99 for most decks, also its worth a good chunk of money, like 20 to 30 at the time of this message.

[@jacquesdespadas]

From my experience, a commander like Saryth eats a lot of removal because she leaves herself wide open and removing her nerfs your whole deck. Grenzo is a $27 card from Conspiracy--I think the problem here is obvious. Maybe not as bad as Adun, but still a lot to shell out on a lark. I've thought about Ulasht a few times, and I'm back to thinking about her again. There are so many ways to make oodles of saprolings and scute bugs and gobbos and even gremlins, then throw in Impact Tremors, Purphoros, Pandemonium (judiciously, of course), and Warstorm Surge and burn it all down. :D

[@OniTreefolk]

Endreck, you could Conspiracy your creatures to a more fitting type, then torment of hailfire for lots of non thrall/sacrifice outlets.

[@kingfuzzy2]

I have an endrek sahr deck and I love that idea.

[@khfan22100]

I find it so weird that The Prismatic Piper is such an unpopular partner commander, like it's such an interesting card that serves a ridiculous amount of utility. You don't even need to play it is the funniest part about it, it's literally a "You get an extra color when deck building" commander.

[@kingfuzzy2]

Yeah I'm quite surprised too he's my favorite new commander from commander legends I even built 11 decks with him one for each guild and a mono b deck.

[@khfan22100]

@@zackkelley2940 Yeah but do other partner commanders have art by Seb Mckinnon? I think not :^)

[@nickmiller3748]

My roommate runs imperia. It’s super cool as a flying tribal deck and there a plenty of cards that let you see the opponents hand at all times. Runs fireshrieker to get double triggers on combat

[@kingfuzzy2]

Sapling of colfenor is in the 99 of 4 of my decks I really should build a deck with her like I did with ikra who I run in most of my decks.

[@jarzz3601]

my first thought on seeing whisper was that you must be able to go infinite with that somehow

[@kingfuzzy2]

He is used in yawgmoth decks to go infinite.

[@Shadowstar108]

I used to have a Prime Speaker Zegana deck that revolved around cards like Sturmgeist and Masumaro, First to Live that got huge after casting my commander and beating face with them. The problem with a lot of these Commanders is that many playgroups or LGS's stick to high power, and a lot of them aren't good enough to be in there without a lot of setup or buying really expensive cards.

[@2DTheBeast]

Any way you have a list for your Gerard deck? The one that was more board wipe heavy?

[@gilabend3453]

I think Ulasht is not played because it's basically like a gruul version of Marath, which you can do a lot more shenanigans with

[@plain6677]

Demo, here’s my 2 cents: - Muzzio: mono-blue artifact is strong by definition so people are choosing better commander. - Xiria Arien: I’m surprised as well. - Lin Sivvi: rebels give PTSD to old players, and younger players are just not interested in them. - Gerrard: board wipes are not fun and it’s kind of a combo commander. Also requires many expensive cards for the deck to work. - Isperia: commander that require to deal combat damage to players are not popular, especially when they have high cmc and no protection. It reads well but you’ll never connect with it. If it had trample and hexproof then maybe. - Ulasht: gruul counters is just weird, especially since the new gruul modified commander exist. - Zareth San: by habits people use more powerful dimir attacking commander. It’s also not as flashy as many other commandera released in 2020. - Whisper: 4 cmc is too high for this effect. It’s a threat so opponents will target your board. Also doesn’t give the reanimated creature haste. - Grenzo: if it was not mono-red but rakdos it’d be super popular. The fact it’s a goblin is a downside actually as it’s definitely not a goblin commander. Mono-red creatures is not very fun to play also. - Adun Oakenshield: like most old legends it has a weak body. I know it doesn’t matter but it feels bad to play the card, it just looks like a very bad card. - Endrek Sahr: is good in the 99 but mono-black aristocrat is not a thing, especially because most new cards are orzhov. - Prime Speaker Zagana: great commander but overshadowed by new simic commanders. Also people didn’t like to play against it. - Nihiloor: people dislike having their creatures stolen in casual meta as you said. If you play this deck you’ll just die first.

[@plain6677]

- Saryth: it’s a 99 card not a commander. Untap strategies require white and blue to function well. Also 4 mana commander need to have better effects. - Sapling of Colfenor: manipulating the top of your library cost a lot of money (scroll rack, top) and need blue. If you have the money for those cards you want a 7/10 at least, and Sapling is capped at 6. - Shaile: both sides read better than they play. I owned this deck for a while, at different power levels and the commander never performed well. You need green for this strategy to work (untap). It’s actually a very bad card. - Grazilaxx: this should definitely see more play, it’s absolutely great in a reconnaissance mission + Panharmonicon tribal deck. It is very fun and strong but it misses white for shenanigans. - Kogla: it is good but I guess during Ikoria people wanted to build multi-color decks. Also very susceptible to the most popular cards in the format like swords and PTE. - Tawnos: Izzet artifact is a strong strategy for which you want a better commander. It’s also a frustrating strategy to play against in casual tables so people avoid it. This deck requires money and high power cards so you’d chose a better commander. - Rootha: uncommon commanders tend to be less popular and the art is also not great. It’s a combo deck but I guess you could build it with value in mind. If they reprint it with a more flashy art then yes it’ll see more play. I have or had most commander decks, including Muzzio, Xira Arien, Ulasht, I replaced Grenzo with Kardur and then with a generic jund commander, Endrek Sahr replaced by an orzhov, Zegana now Aesi, I built but never played with Saryth and is now Emmara instant and convoke tribal deck (very fun), I replaced Sapling with Beledros witherbloom, Shaile is now Nikara/Yannik, Grazilaax (only one I still have and play), Kogla (brawl).

[@ArchangelJaceAscended]

I think Ayara is the go-to mono black aristocrats Commander since she has both the death trigger and sac outlet built into her. I can see Endrek Sahr and Whisper both in the 99 of an Ayara deck.

[@abderianagelast7868]

Xira's trash though. I don't want to pay 6 mana AND tap my commander just to draw a single card. Arcanis the Omnipotent draws me 3 cards for basically the same requirement, and I don't have to pay for subsequent draws. If I want Xira to draw me two cards, I have to pay 9 mana. That is one of the worst rates you can get in the game. Jund already has so many great card draw options that putting a slow and over-costed draw option in your command zone that doesn't do anything else for your deck is a terrible idea. Literally any other Jund commander would be better for whatever strategy you want to do, since all Xira really does is put you in Jund colors.

[@SSolemn]

I went with a wizard/shaman tribal, burn/life drain, magecraft deck. I win a ton and the ability might be bad but it can be even a political tool or a desperate searach for answer. Plus nobody removes her because she is very meh, so I make full use of the free spells in her color xD

[@nailahprincessofhokuto2024]

My #1 Shocker for an Underplayed Commander is Djeru & Hazoret. Last I looked they have something like 700 decks which is good but its next to nothing. And its such a strong Commander. Its admittedly not an unheard of type of Commander "the Sneak & show" strategy. But Djeru & Hazoret not only lets you keep the creature you cast, but you get the cast trigger. Meaning you can for ex. Play Eldrazi Titans for 0 & still get the Emrakul Mindslaver, the Ulamog Exiles, or the Kozilek card draw.

[@bertvanthienen4284]

I have an Endrek Sahr deck, and it can be extremely powerful and annoying for opponents. It obviously screams out "combo-deck", but there's nothing wrong with that. It can draw a lot of cards, and generally you just win with blood artist-esk abilities. What I have added into it aswell is altar of the brood, and no joke: it is so powerfull. you cast a 3 mana value creature, and you mill all opponents for 4 cards. it stacks up very quickly.

[@asmac96]

Grenzo is actually super good my friend consistently pops off with that deck

[@joshuatrueblood4547]

Yes!! Finally some love for Ulasht!! One of the first decks I ever built. Ulasht and Thromok together is bonkers… sac all those saps to Thromok and profit

[@Codly68]

Endrek Sahr is so much fun to play. Recently built him and hes becoming one of my favorites

[@kingfuzzy2]

Yeah he was one of my first decks (#4) built an 18$ version and it's my deck that's won the most against the colours I like the least blue green + x. He's so underplayed he should be in the 99 and in the command zone of so many more decks.

[@nickhughes8179]

Speaking of unpopular commanders, I want to make a Joven deck. Mycosynth Lattice is one of the few expensive cards in it, and Chandler in the 99 as a hidden secondary commander. Nihiloor might be funny in my Garth one eye deck with all the blink effects

[@worldmedic3187]

I used to have a Sapling deck! I dropped it when green got so boring to play. Now I primarily play blue with no green decks other than my 5 color by default.

[@emeraldflame22]

That totally helps me out with sapling. I now can make a commander deck that benefits from commanders plate

[@efrenmartinez6138]

So question for Zareth San, the Trickster. If you were to give the commander double strike. Would their ability technically activate twice allowing you to steal two permanents?

[@edhdeckbuilding]

any deal damage trigger will trigger twice with double strike

[@casually_lurking]

Kogla is an amazing second in Gorion. A lot of Adventure's Creature sides are human, and some are combat tricks who can kick the turn he bounces them.

[@p1mack]

Really solid video. I think I own about 13 of these cards. And that's funny because I've only been in the game for 3 years. I think I will tackle a couple of these!!

[@matthewrose8002]

Adun Oakenshield doesn't have any other printing of it other than from legends. Your looking at a $80 to $100 commander which most can build a deck with that amount.

[@danielriggins1381]

I run a Esperia toolbox deck with a lot of reveal opponent hands cards and I love it

[@kingfuzzy2]

That's what I did with my tatyova group hug deck it's a blast to see how upset opponents are at each other's hand.

[@rings-cn1yn]

Just built a Gerrard deck and he's a lot of fun, lots of card advantage built in. Fun mix of combo, sacrifice, and a value engine. I agree more people should give him a try.

[@haingis]

I'm actually working on a Grazilaxx deck at the moment, but I haven't quite figured it out yet, so it's currently on hold :P thought it would be more popular

[@kingfuzzy2]

In my experience he's an infinite turns combo deck or an Walmart edrec deck.

[@ben001bunnet]

I have played Prime Zegana as a commander for like 6 years. And it was difficult to made something new. But I still have love for my first real deck.

[@tylermurdock8252]

I have a friend who has a saryth deck and it's a big stompy, and just needs protection and uses trample plus deathtouch synergy

[@eleborebeta791]

i did built a grenzo deck, and i got to say that it is not the easyest deck to pilot. you have to be quite on the control side of the game to be sure that your creatures connects, and you have to try to quickly be able to have board presence, while also ramping, en mono red. to do all of this, it is quite difficult and quite frustrating, as the strategy is quite fragile. it either work, or doesn't.

[@Trefalgr]

Each spell you want to copy with Rootha costs 5 mana. Copy spells are a dime a dozen and most are in the 2 - 3 mana range. How mana times are you going to be able to use this in a game? There are many commanders that are more efficient and offer other utility if you want to copy a spell. I'm all for playing commanders that aren't the most popular, but this is way down there on the list.

[@TheHomieNess]

That’s funny I just recently built a saryth deck because I thought she was super good. You can also use her to untap circle of dreams Druid or gaea’s cradle for a but load of mana

[@poutinemcflurry3544]

I underestimated a Lin Sivvi deck once, and I got decimated because of it! they tutored out a bunch of rebels, and then when they had a huge board, they used Lin Sivvi to get Mirror Entity, and swing in for lethal.

[@earthbowser1493]

I've got an Ulasht deck and used to have an Isperia deck. I'm also shocked that they aren't more popular, they are a bunch of fun. I think people tend to go with Marath over Ulasht, but I prefer being able to bounce Ulasht to take advantage of her getting counters on ETB.