The Most Powerful Preconstructed Commander Decks Ever Made for Magic: The Gathering - MTG

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

I'll be at SCG CON Las Vegas this June 7-9! It's free to attend! Visit scgcon.starcitygames.com/event/scg-con-las-vegas-2024/ for more information!

[@prophet_of_pain3335]

ill be there. gotta follow the man who got me into magic years ago

[@tschomb1332]

The Prof reminds me of a used car salesman from like, an early 2000s commercial when he does his advertisements and I absolutely love it.

[@Namedonelettere]

I like when he calls us fam and uses the blow horn sound effects

[@lasselindkvist2051]

The self aware boomer is a great one i prof's version

[@KesslerVTuber]

I don't even play Magic. I just like this mans enthusiasm which is why I watch

[@thetrinketmage]

I really wish the quality of precons was more consistent. A lot of them are just so slow I see new players frustrated when they try out the weaker decks

[@semi-decent1844]

Woahhh is that a really good magic the gathering youtuber commenting on a video of a really good magic the gathering youtuber?

[@MrPacoGuapo]

I was so confused with my first precon "dungeons of the death" as a new player it was a lot of information to keep up with

[@GridRivers]

my fave KZbinr commenting on my fave Professor 😮

[@nathancarlk]

@@GridRivers You're my favorite commenter, commenting on my favorite youtuber, who is commenting on my favorite professor.

[@GridRivers]

@@nathancarlk no, YOU'RE my favorite commenter. lol. still waiting for trinket mage's new vid 😢

[@ZobmieRules]

Explorers of the Deep (the Merfolk deck from Lost Caverns of Ixalan) has a notorious reputation in my community due to strong tribal synergy that includes ramp and card draw, evasion and interaction, it's the whole package. Deep Clue Sea is another one that's had its power level lauded.

[@OneFoxTwoFox]

Such an amazingly fun deck. It can actually hold up against that Dino Precon quite nicely. Honestly Lost Caverns precons, chef's kiss.

[@dawkks]

I'm surprised it's not complained about more! when I play against it it's like I'm just watching someone else play Magic

[@ZobmieRules]

@@dawkks I watched "Friend A" play the precon against "Friend B" using normal EDH decks and the precon won all 4 games they played. "Friend B" got more and more frustrated and kept switching to stronger and stronger decks. It was pretty funny to watch. Now of course that's not the best judge of power level because they were 1-v-1 games, but I still feel like that says SOMETHING. "Friend B" is a good player so it's not like it was mismatched skill-wise.

[@countryoutlaw100]

I played Explorers for my first ever commander game straight out of the box and didn't take a single hit. Had it not been for an infinite mill combo the one opponent played, I had it won. Since then, I've upgraded the deck, and in the same Pod, my Merfolk deck is considered "God Tier" now! It's my favorite deck!

[@YoungsterJoey151]

I love the Merfolk deck. It’s surprising how fast it can come back from board wipes too

[@NMas-q9n]

My son and I tried out kamigawa upgrades unleashed at casual commander tonight and placed 2nd in both matches. We’ve both never played commander before. I am very pleased with my purchase. I’m also so impressed with how kind and helpful the other players were. We were gifted 3d printed counters by one of our opponents, encouraged to attack the correct player when the opportunity arose, and congratulated for placing 2nd when it was all due to their help. I love this game and I wish I started playing sooner.

[@bumblebflame99]

The Mutant menance deserves a serious shoutout. It has extreme synergy and efficiency. You're milling and pinging the entire table, and at the same time, you're building up your flying commander for massive damage. Only needs a few counter spells

[@jasonlove4145]

I play with a group of four, and 1 of them uses mutant menace, and he never wins. It does a lot but two slow and vulnerable. Rads' usual benefit all our decks as well

[@bumblebflame99]

@jasonlove4145 Imma be 100 with you, I think that's a pilot plus pod problem. I never stutter or am slow with mothman. I'm swinging with a 12/12 commander in the air on turn 4. If that's too slow, that guy needs a deck more appropriate to the pod because it sounds like you guys are too fast. Or he just isn't aggressive. Also important to realize that the video topic is "most powerful reconstructed.... decks..." Are you comparing it unadulterated precons?

[@Iseekaremedy308]

Combine Bloodchief ascension and mind crank, it’s an infinite trigger combo that will one shot everyone unless someone removes mind crank. Moth man is a beast with a few ramp upgrades, extra milling enchantments etc. I once had my moth at 16/16 flying and with swift foot boots. Terrifying.! Haha

[@yyc1643]

@@bumblebflame99 I agree in 4 pods on spell table I went head to head with a moth man precon i played necron precon and a dog meat precon was there and a hakbal... hakbal and dogmeat flopped doing nothing i went head to head with mothman and had to get whatever help from the other 2//// and mothman was a 16/16 in 3 turns after coming back out 3-4 times... mothman is lethal.

[@pyroshadow33]

the problem is that the main gameplan of that deck is wayyyyy too televised whether it be the counters or mill and people HATE being milled so you get extra targeted

[@WumboWings96]

Definitely did not expect some of these decks in here. Party Time was a goal of mine to get and I recently got one, but run Burakos instead because I just love his versatility in a party themed deck. Kinda surprised none of the Lost Caverns of Ixalan precons made it in here based on how crazy the Dinosaur and Merfolk decks always seemed to get.

[@dimitriid]

Definitively think the Ixalan decks were pretty strong to be omitted entirely: while I have fairly limited experience playing against a timey wimey precon (I only know one player that runs it and ran it maybe 3 or 4 times before doing pretty substantial upgrades to it) it was certainly doing a lot of things on it's turn but was never able to actually close out any games at all: definitively weaker than the Dinos or Merfolks from Ixalan for sure.

[@Chonus]

That Dino precon comes with Akromas will, if that's not precon power creep idk what is.

[@joshholmes1372]

Burakos is definitely better. Especially when paired with card draw background.

[@thewittyusername]

I've a friend who plays the merfolk deck and it's not as strong as you think. Especially when those counters start to stack you basically aggro the whole board and get wiped constantly with not much to stop it.

[@MinecraftGambits]

Hard agree that both Ixalan' Dino, and Merfolk both outpace timey wimey

[@lucarends4519]

As someone who plays eldrazi unbound, the biggest problem is that you will always be a threat at the table. So players will always be looking at ways to target you and remove you before you swing at them

[@MelissaisBones]

Yes! I bought it and it's undefeated yet with no upgrades and a lot of the people I play with love to build competitive decks. The deck is nuts.

[@gerardlacroix6015]

This. Now, all the players just bands together from turn 1. Hence why my Dhiada is still my stronger deck. Always get them by surprise.

[@cubikx8575]

One that ive found REALLY works is the Riders of Rohan deck, ive often won against my lgs's higher power decks without even using a single upgrade

[@btfenton9]

I'm surprised not to see that deck here

[@keensley91]

My friend has that deck and has beat us with it quite a few times, it's really strong!

[@cloudedbug30]

A friend of mine changed like 5 or 6 cards on that deck and it still often destroys our pod of in theory more optimized decks.

[@iinsomniaaaaa]

I was shocked not to see that top the list. I have most of the others listed including number 1 but Riders of Rohan is such a good aggressive deck it would probably top my list. Another non-UB one I thought was very strong was the Merfolk one from LCI but I know the dinosaur one was supposed to be great too and I haven't played with or against that one.

[@Vok250]

It's cheap too. Like half the price of he Fallout Mutant deck. It's also not sold out everywhere

[@rav5373]

Personally i think Cavalry Charge is amazing out of the box. The card selection Eminence provides is great, the commander has both flying and first strike making it almost impossible to kill in combat and will often get through reaniming a big knight. It has great card draw and despite only having 3 single target removals, it can feel enough, especially against other precons, since you will surely draw 1. And that deck is so easy to make into a really powerful one, even with just a few upgrades.

[@carlhannah1884]

Upgraded cavalry charge really plays well.

[@MitsuSC]

yes, it plays well but works better when focused on a single strategy as opposed to attempting to cover all bases (protection, draw, countering spells, aggro)

[@arkknight92]

Got back into magic last year and played edh for the time with this deck! Knights are my favorite! Always looking for new knights cards each set to make it better!

[@Tclark6199]

Came here to say this exact thing, deck with minor upgrades will hang at most tables that aren't super high power

[@IStillJustLikeCats]

Cavalry Charge is by far one of my go to favorite precons. The mana base is kind of crap, and some of the creatures are just too expensive for what they bring, but it works so well for what you're doing with the deck anyways. If you don't draw into any creatures, you can just pitch any of the tap lands you have instead due to the deck running too many lands anyways. It's also a great counter to the Mutan deck from Fallout that everyone who was running precons at my LGS was using when it was new. I've been putting cards off to the side to upgrade it for a while now, but I've been somewhat putting it off because the deck works well enough as it is.

[@chrisgallo2236]

Exit From Exile was a pretty good value too from what I remember. It also played pretty well out of the box.

[@MABlacksmith]

I switched out the face Commander to Durnan and the Passionate Archaeologist background, and it's amazing for the tick damage you get to do. High cost commander combo, but well worth it, especially when people forget about you in 4+ player tables.

[@theblan1k0ne]

It is well worth the price at the time imo. Such a good precon

[@Griezus]

I expected this one aswel

[@CompetitiveEDH]

I expected ths one also, I carry 5 precons with me and this is my go to one to play.

[@Slaaneshy_Concubine]

Same. Maybe he didn‘t include it because Party Time was already in the list?

[@FlammBii]

I dont even want to think about how much work went into the writing of the video Thank you prof and associates for your services to the multiverse

[@andymanact1]

Honestly I love that one of the best Doctor Who cards is from one of the best episodes. I think that two parter encapsulates everything Doctor Who is for new viewers and is fairly self contained. Aliens, time travel, body horror, optimism, fleshed out characters it is the best the series has to offer.

[@Aigis31]

Wow, what perfect timing! I've recently started looking into preconstructed decks again since a family member wants to buy a few for us to play and never modify. Thanks, Prof!

[@rollingslothmachine3431]

Urza's Iron Alliance was my first commander deck when I started to play. I instantly fell in love with it's mechanics and although I have built my own decks from the ground up since then, I still play it in a powered up version that eliminates it's slight weaknesses. Funny to find out it is one of the strongest pre cons to this day.

[@nathansanchez51]

My first deck as well.

[@inkyo7538]

To me, one of the best precons of all time is Osgir the Reconstructor from Strixhaven. Simple synergistic commander which can be broken quite easily with little upgrades, solid pre-built deck still available for a decent price nowadays and a unique way to play Boros which can't be found anywhere else. I can never stop myself to recommend this deck to new and established players.

[@matiasbre]

Sounds good! Can you recommend which cards are the best upgrades? What is your main strategy when running this deck? Thanks!

[@inkyo7538]

@@matiasbre Huh well, I love to make tons of tokens, I'm really focused on that. So "Anointed Procession" and/or "Mondrak, Glory Dominus" is a must in the deck, "Oltec Matterweaver" is an excellent card in the same vein printed recently. The other way is abusing cards by bringing them back from exile. For that, you can: -Use "Karn, The Great Creator " minus ability -Use "Pull from Eternity", which can be Imprinted on "Isochron Scepter" to use it multiple times Also here are some fun interactions Osgir has with a few cards: -Artifact lands can tap for mana to activate Osgir's sac outlet to sac the land itself, then you can tap Osgir x=0 to make tokens of your artifact lands (Again, if you have ways to makes more tokens, congrats you have nigh infinite lands) -You can cast a "Sol Ring", tap it to float 2 mana. Use 1 to the sac outlet targeting your Ring and the other to tap Osgir x=1, making 2 "Sol Ring" tokens. Thus, by casting a Ring for 1 mana, you now made 4 mana (Again, token shenanigan here) Obviously, this deck loves tutor effect that puts stuff in the grave, take "Reckless Handling" and "Goblin Engineer" as decent examples. Another thing with the deck is since you are playing a lot with the grave, you basically instantly come back from most boardwipes (well not "Farewell"...) In the end, once you have enough doubled mana rocks and value engines, you can start duplicating some big hitters ("Bronze Guardian", "Triplicate Titant", "Myr Battlesphere" and "Hellkite Igniter" are all in the precon from the start, but really let your imagination go wild... *cough cough* Blightsteel Colossus *cough*) and using lands such as "Slayers' Stronghold" and "Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion", as well as your beloved Osgir's sac outlet to boost said threats. Again, most of what is discussed here is using mostly the unmodified precon as I like the power-level I have reached with it, but this is a deck which can certainly go crazy and abuse some busted artifacts to do infinite combos (if that is to your liking, of course) I'd just like to finish by recommanding to go see Prof's video on the place of Lorehold in the game of Magic and how it completely shifted our view of the red-white combination (video here kzbin.info/www/bejne/joO2fquseqpopdksi=D7KBwX41BS4v0M3N) Hopefully, this was... helpful? haha

[@inkyo7538]

@@matiasbre so I tried to reply to you with a whole dissertation about Osgir but my reply got deleted:') Real fun... But if I can summarize it, go check out Prof's video on the subject of Lorehold. It's what inspired me to buy the deck and keep working on it to this day. Hopefully this helps:) and doesn't get this reply removed...

[@jollyjenkins2278]

I never even looked at the Baldur's Gate precons until this video. There's like 6 cards in Party Time that I'd written off as being outside of my budget that would massively upgrade some of my decks. Plus if I buy the deck, it's like paying for just those cards and getting 93 cards for free. Pretty sure that's how that math works. Thanks for putting me onto that deck I'ma go buy it

[@BurdenOfNiflheimYT]

Honourable mention has to be Explorers of the Deep imo. It is consistent, the commander can make big merfolk and allow great card advantage, and it has a good balance of removal, buff, and draw.

[@guico33]

It should be more than an honorable mention. Pretty confident it wrecks the Eldrazi deck.

[@shibo1221]

It actually in my opinion has a major flaw and that is the fact that it is entirely dependent upon Hakbal as its engine to get going. If you don't have anything to defend it against removal then you're screwed. Where as other commanders are not necessarily their precon's main engine to get going.

[@pinguinoequatoriale]

​​@@shibo1221 well the urza one is pretty centered on the commander, but his affinity for artifact creature makes it so that if you really wanna slow him down, you better use those board wipes!! Also the merfolk one attracts so much heat that the second hakbal enters combat and starts exploring there is always someone saying "He's doing the thing! GET HIM BOISS" :/

[@cjb_writings]

I played Mind Flayarrs out of the box at one of my lgs' against a pod of brewed decks. It put in some massive work, being one of the biggest threats for most of the game and nearly winning. I was pretty surprised that a precon out of rhe box performed that well.

[@ich3730]

mind flayarrs is deceptively good. People always being like "lulW horror tribal, thats cute man. And the commander looks like davy jones, thats NEAT" and then the 40 buck precons proceeds to beat them up with their own wincons that each cost more then the deck itself xD

[@Shivan_16]

My friend group and I usually play really strong casual decks, but lately we have taken a liking to having some chill fun games with precons! So this video came JUST in time! :D

[@registereduser]

I will forever love the Brother’s War precons for reprinting a bunch of cards in the classic frame.

[@thomasdawicki141]

I run both for my groups precon nights (we allow up to 10 swaps with a casual mindset. My group is pretty good with vibes) and they reliably over perform. I run both and Mishra sweeps

[@registereduser]

@@thomasdawicki141 that sounds awesome.

[@Phe0nix1986]

I respectfully disagree. The Ixalan precons have to be up there like number 1 or 2 slots. But fair shout talking about timey whimey. You love it & thats great!

[@pinguinoequatoriale]

Thing is, speaking for the merfolk deck, it antagonizes the table very fastly attracts attention of all 3 players at the table usually, so it can be tricky to pilot it imo. I dunno about the timey wimey, but I have for example the urza one, and it does give me a lil bit more breathing room and time to do my stuff without other saying "uh oh, let's beat him up boissss" :D

[@unanon_user]

​@@pinguinoequatoriale I have that one in coming and decided my changes would be a good defense package.

[@jasonlarue5694]

That's awesome about Party Time. I remember your review on those Commander Decks and took your word to try out Exit From Exile. I've slung that Precon at my local LGS a couple times and have taken home a Pod win with it.

[@Beckola44]

I appreciate you sharing your Top 5 Commander Pre-cons. Thank you for the video Professor.

[@alexanderxatprime]

Glad to see Party Time get some love! I'm a new player, and this deck called to me (it's my second of two decks). I added more recursion, interaction, and dialed the cmc down. It is so much fun to play, and you never know what creatures are going to pop up to fill out the party!

[@DeeterPlays]

Food and Fellowship and Cavalry Charge are also some good decks. I’ve also won a few times with me Grave Danger and Chaos Incarnate decks with zombies or goading, respectively. Those last two are low rated and overlooked, but fun to play with and can be powerful.

[@Corve]

Mildly surprised to not see Edgar Markov/vampiric bloodlust deck here but I don’t recall what original list was.

[@MrEliakimRAS]

20 taplands out of 37 lands total. That was to make it not stomp every other C17 deck. Same with Arahbo (C17) and Aminatou (C18).

[@BugManiacRoy]

Wasn't that great. Edgar is just a powerhouse in it of itself

[@xXxUhlrikxXx]

It is the most expensive precon AFAIK if that's any consolation (it's not)

[@AlienoidGamer]

Edgar is great, but the deck out of the box wasn't that impressive. Needed a lot of tuning. Still great but nowadays it's like 300, buy the eldrazi deck instead. It's less money and way stronger.

[@EpicMTGMusic]

Mark is good, his deck... well still has captivating vampire.

[@mbarker_lng]

One precon I think that is overlooked is the Quantum Quandrix strixhaven one. This deck is absolutely insane and I've never lost with it. Even coming right back from boards wipes and the like. Maybe I am just lucky, but I've never lost with Reap the Tides either. On the other hand, I've been on the receiving end of the Urza deck and it is brutal; coming back from boardwipes at startling speed and shrugging off interaction like crazy. Even my salty Elesh Norn:MoM deck was ground down by it.

[@blazedkromer8922]

I personally play the mutant menace mothman deck and am in love with it, spitting out rads and swinging for 20 or more 5-8 turns in with little people can do is such a fun build and if you alter it with focusing on mill you can get some crazy counters going and swinging for huge unblockable dmg

[@1Kurgan1]

I wish more detail had been gone into why these were selected. I don't think as much of their power level has to do with cost of cards in the deck. I get that that means they make more sense to purchase. For example Party Time has almost always been a stinker in our group. It just requires too much investment in a board presence to be a threat. A full party is a lot of creatures, to expect to be able to sustain that just doesn't seem to happen often. And if you have a full party, anyone else with an equal amount of creatures usually those creatures are better as they aren't trying to assemble different types. I would be interested to see where some other decks rank though. In my opinion, even though it is older, Exquisite Invention is one of the strongest precons. Saheeli is low threat, makes bodies, and reduces costs. And the synergy is very strong, and most board wipes or targeted removal don't hit the commander.

[@phlipclip5097]

I got into magic in the Eldrazi era. I wish I bought up lots of them

[@camoking3609]

Well On the bright side we might be in a new era of eldrazi

[@StupidBros]

Same, played that on and old xbox.

[@torchofice16]

Mirko and mothman also deserve some love!!! I've built dozens of decks but both of them are in my top 5 FUNNEST decks to play and in my top 10 STRONGEST

[@alexanderthurber4257]

Watching new players with the Quick Draw precon take 10 min for a useless turn casting 10 spells is absolute hell.

[@albertcohee7757]

I had exactly this experience the other night. Was playing my caesar brew and sneezed out 72 spirits and bro still solitaired for a solid 8 minutes even though the entire table knows his board wipes and removal are all in the graveyard or exiled at this point.

[@pascalsimioli6777]

Literally just experienced that and boy oh wow that was painful lol I am looking for ways to make commander faster and instead it gets slower and slower.

[@nikolaifrankenstein3144]

This precon is quite possibly the worst I've ever seen. I've played 3 different people who played with it fresh out the box. Straight up 10-15 minute turns of then playing solitaire. I will never play against someone who plays this precon. It is straight up that annoying.

[@NyahBoyOwO]

If you upgrade the deck it can combo turn 3-4 without expensive mana rocks. I would rather face it as a precon rather than upgraded, I have it and it destroys CEDH tables without using expensive mana rocks, seriously considering buying them so I can combo turn 1.

[@jacobthatguy8001]

You got a decklist? I have the precon and am looking to upgrade it. ​@@NyahBoyOwO

[@TrevorClifford-Film]

Ixalan Veloci-Ramp-Tor is also insane

[@jgarb1]

Cry more

[@endlesssnothing]

@@jgarb1Shut yo ass up

[@Sassafras1777]

@@jgarb1 what???

[@traviskibodeaux3439]

My girlfriend randomly bought me dinos for my birthday and it turned out to be one of the strongest decks I own. Just played a game with it last night. Ended the game with ghalta cheated out 7 dinos from my hand had a Dino that creates a token for how much trample damage you do. Nex turn I had a 29 29 token and finished everyone at the table next turn.

[@Helthurian]

Yeah I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned. I feel it's consistently a powerhouse, so much that my playgroup banned it when we did a precon league.

[@John-ep5gr]

I love videos like this! Seeing how precons rank against each other is super helpful especially for newer players. That said a Strongest Precons for New Players video would also be great since a lot of these are on the more complex side. Love the quality of these videos Prof keep it up!

[@choppergrumbles]

I was literally looking for this video from you two days ago hoping you made one and now here it is.

[@m.blu.]

Timestamps / Chapters: 3:00 Number 5 - Battle for Baldur's Gate: "Party Time" 5:22 Number 4 - Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 - "Necron Dynasties" 8:27 Number 3 - The Brothers' War - "Urza's Iron Alliance" 11:26 Number 2 - Universes Beyond: Doctor Who - "Timey-Wimey" 13:48 Number 1 - Commander Masters: "Eldrazi Unbound"

[@kgoodfarms]

Great video! And I'm sure this means we can expect a least powerful precon list as well which I am equally excited for!

[@poli6570]

Was really expecting Deep Clue Sea, honestly. It's just so generically powerful, and the deck is jam packed with so much value that it seemed like a sure choice.

[@pascalsimioli6777]

It has maybe one win con (Tangletrove Kelp), a commander with no evasion and a second commander with no connection to the deck itself. You're probably better running Chulaine for the occasional free value because you are not going to kill anyone for commander damage with Morska. The deck durdles around a lot and that gives off the impression of being strong.

[@poli6570]

@@pascalsimioli6777 Probably lol. Tbf I usually just like to durdle in commander anyway, so there's probably some bias there.

[@nikolamatasin3877]

@@poli6570 Deck has Koma, that alone can win you games. lol

[@pnjpaintingofvermont]

You can easily make 8 clues and just win with mechanized production

[@evangrescol7772]

So honestly, the problem with Deep Clue Sea is that it wants to be a Clue deck, but it also just wants Tokens in general. It's gameplan is a little bit too slow, and it comes with little in the way of protection. I'm okay with that because I wanted a clue deck, so I still got what I paid for. I even got to throw in some detectives to fit the theme of the deck, and it meshes well with the best cards in it. But it just struggles too much against aggressive decks.

[@pete6964]

Thanks prof. was already going to pick up that Eldrazi deck, It went up 25$ on amazon overnight.

[@odinfastflame6568]

Very happy to see this video coming out, amazing stuff as always

[@nailahprincessofhokuto2024]

I remember Rebellion Rising is really strong. I got it as a Prize at SCG Con, went to a booth to get sleeves, Sleeved it up, Shuffled it up, then Qued into an On Demand Commander Pod and Dominated that game vs Non Precons. It was sooo resilient with so many Board Wipe Protection and spat out tokens. and Neyali just kept you in card advantage with its ability. It had so much card draw out the box too to keep it going.

[@stratuvarious8547]

I think Mishra's Burnished Banner is the strongest one I've used. A few improvements could be made, but it's so synergistic out of the box, it's the only precon I've bought that I haven't made changes to.

[@twenties__]

Mishra’s precon is sooo solid. I have upgraded it slightly and it’s such a beast. Not to mention it was almost hard to upgrade and remove anything from it lol

[@AtriumXP666]

I made a ton of upgrades to mine but it's easily my current favorite to play. I run it with a mill sub-theme and there are so many ridiculous lines of play, it's actually an embarrassment of riches. I've just ordered another Cyclonic Rift to add to it, but honestly? It's overkill LOL

[@thesoundofwhitenoise2122]

I have played many, many precon games. I always brought a few precons with me to my LGS so that people can have a go with fun decks. And whenever I or someone else brought Plunder The Graves led by Meren of Clan Nel Toth, it has never not been a complete problem at the table or completely dominated the game. That deck is very hard to deal with, considering the mad amount of recursion that this deck can bring and it's very hard to disrupt.

[@johnny_crash]

Honorable mention for Reap the Tides. When released it was 20 bucks, but does some degenerate stuff. Another honorable mention is Buckle Up. My cousin saw this deck, looked through it, and asked me how long I needed to build it. I told him it’s a Precon. Some weeks later he was knee deep into Commander

[@po801_4]

Yeah, both of those decks are busted. Especially Reap the Tides. I was lucky enough to snag a deck back when it was $20.

[@EricColgan]

I was expecting Atraxa in there for sure. Brian could have a video where they play the best precons and see which one really is best.

[@crap1521]

Henzie, in “Riveteers Rampage”, is my favorite precon I’ve gotten out of the box. It’s such a fun strategy and I’ve been slowly upgrading it ever since I got it and it’s probably my most loved commander deck

[@erfunk]

I got it to be my stock precon, and love it. And I won with it last week against a pod I had no business even playing it in! I'm about to start upgrading it, and am debating what direction to lean into. New Capenna themed? Legends? Reanimator? Nostalgia? I'll probably just go with generic upgrades at first.

[@crap1521]

@@erfunk henzie is awesome out of the box! It’s just a super strong strategy. Personally, I’d recommend putting in a couple reanimation piece like rise of the witch king and persist and illicit masquerade (illicit masquerade is AWESOME in this deck and I still can’t believe it’s like $0.50), as well as just some good beaters like gruff triplets and bloodbraid elf and vindictive lich. Riveteers ascendency is also an automatic upgrade

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Henzie is great. I play an all creature version I call Henzie's Hoard, such a fun silly deck ;p

[@oddlyCT]

i have been waiting on this one! cheers Prof!

[@internetperson8224]

I love your channel so much… it seems whenever I get the magic bug you have the perfect video to get back into it with my buddies. I’m going to pick four and proxy them for the price of one! Treat myself a little :)

[@TheTamally]

I played my Urza precon out of the box and then slightly edited for nearly a year. One of my favourite decks I've played, it was insane. I am pretty surprised that Dihada, Binder of Wills didn't make it on this list though. That deck is truly insane, and some of the cards printed for it (I'm looking at you Reaver Cleaver) are crazy. I played that precon against some very expensive high power EDH decks and absolutely stomped with it.

[@deiler7085]

Stand proud Zhulodok, you are strong.

[@IQuarent]

Ive always thought of Breed Lethality and Built from scratch as some of the strongest precons Ive ever personally played with, but as far as more recent fair goes, I'd say Riders of Rohan and Explorers of The Deep should be in the conversation.

[@DeeterPlays]

The new Quick Draw precon from Thunder Junction with $10-15 in upgrades is cedh level.

[@gombles]

what upgrades? got a link?

[@ich3730]

Imo its not. cEDH requires expensive fast mana, tutors and such, not just the combos. You can however buy all the 2 card combo pieces for 5 bucks and just pubstomp casual tables for cheap xD

[@kgoodfarms]

As a returning player from long ago and total commander newbie, I find it very powerful and therefore for me, a slow one to pilot lol I love it! There's so much synergy it's helping me be better at remembering triggers because it doesn't take long to build up many of them

[@DeeterPlays]

@@gomblescards like Twisted Fealty, Cerulean Wisps and Refocus can be used to untap Stella and go infinite with two cards (after casting 3 spells). Add some 0 mana spells to the deck (to cast 3 easily and trigger Stella’s copy ability) and you have a good cEDH level deck.

[@DeeterPlays]

@@ich3730I was able to pull a win by turn 3 with it. Quickest win I’ve ever accomplished. With the right initial hand, it could probably pull a turn 2 or even turn 1 win. (Twisted Fealty, three 0 mana spells, some mana ramp, cast 2 spells, cast Stella, go infinite with Twisted Fealty and Stella combo).

[@mugthemagpie3001]

I think it depends on the table and decks used. During Commander Launch Party two players used decks with Planechase and Vrodniss (Draconic Rage) of mine became a weird token defense mode and just created tokens until a certain card kicked in which allowed me to put X dragons into the battlefield where X is dragons already in battlefield, since Plabechase is dice rolling and Vrodriss is triggered every single time the dice is rolled. ETB triggers from the dragons alone killed two players. The third player got killed in Combat due to 20+ dragons in the field.

[@VAEXYL]

This is really helpful! Im just getting into magic the gathering and was looking to get my first paper commander deck to play with my friends. This will help me decide on a deck that can compete with my friend’s custom decks. I really wish there were more phyrexian decks, as those are my favorite type of decks ive made in arena so far. I was thinking of getting the corrupting influence deck, but it seems relatively underpowered compared to custom made decks.

[@jojobetzler3732]

As a new player I won´t buy one of the top 3 drecks. The precons of Brother´s War and Dr. Who are just too complicated for new players, who aren´t familiar with the game. Eldrazi Unbound is just too expensive, since it got the CMM "Premium" pricing. I think Baldurs Gate, Lost Caverns of Ixalan and maybe Karlov Manor would be the go to sets for cheap but powerful decks. The merfolk explore deck has many triggers to keep track of but its quite powerful out of the box. The Pantlaza deck (if it is reasonable priced) needs some work with creatures (all the Ghaltas and sick Etali), in the manabase/ramp (slow lands, bond lands, check lands, maybe forest shocks and some forest fetchers) and a new helm (Gishath or Zacama) but it is a good base to do upgrades.

[@scarrboros]

One odd one at our LGS was that the convoke precon from MOM was dominating most games we had it in. It felt fast due to the inherent ramp of convoke, and had good card draw and scary threats. So to this day we still consider that the strongest precon ever at our LGS

[@jst56strong]

Great video idea. LOVE how consistent Prof is

[@nemesis666first]

17:00 : Notice that all the precon from Commander Legends are not considered as "precon level" (Or "level 5"), because some of them contain infinite loop, and are at least 2 level upper from the regular precons.

[@SpectrumIntruder]

I got the eldrazi unbound deck and played my kid, I beat him so bad he cried. That deck is unexpectedly strong. I'm surprised the Mothman didn't make the list.

[@KuroiRenge]

I personally think Science is a better deck, but the Mothman is pretty good. It's just hard to deal with a cheap 8/8 robot, a deck with amazing synergy, and board wipe resistance in one precon.

[@TheVividen]

As a result of this video I bought Eldrazi Unbound for my wife. We're planning on getting the six color Eldrazi precon in June when MH3 releases, making that our Eldrazi deck, and turning Zhulodok into a colorless tribal list.

[@SirPrizeMF]

Honorable mention fot Anikthea, Hand of Erebos. It's so drastically underestimated, but the amount of gas it has is off the rails. It has like 12 cards that draw when playing an enchantment and focusses around graveyard recursion so stuff just keeps coming back while you also never run out of new stuff.

[@evangrescol7772]

Honestly, probably the strongest deck I have. The only thing that stops me from playing it often is how many enchantment triggers there are. My friends prefer the games to be more fast-paced, so they'll often zone out on my turns with the deck.

[@arieleconforti6112]

Thanks Prof! I'm picking again mtg after a long time (mirrodin) cos a friend introduced to commander and looks very fun. So I wached many of your evaluations for precons and now you drop this in perfect timing❤ grazie!

[@glumdrop4672]

I'm still very fond of the red artifact deck with Dretti, Scrap Savant, i think it may have been the first one I ever owned

[@gerdfast3466]

In my opinion people always strongly underestimate the atraxa precon. it was just stupidly powerful, caus it was so straight foreward. Play cretures that have, get or give +1/+1 counters, proliferate the counters and overrun your opponents. You dont even have to worry about being attacked to much, cause your commander will be big, has lifelink and vigilance + flying of course. Again: its so simplistic and effective, that it is just powerful

[@wowostylehess1575]

I love Party Time! My first deck was a Burakos, Party Leader/Folk hero deck using many of the cards that Party time holds, and it is always a blast to use at the table, and it can prove itself to be shockingly capable at ending games despite me not putting in many wincons into the deck. I can sit happy knowing my first deck was able to make half the magic group I play with start to run treasure hate.

[@Peter_Pierre_Anderson]

Party Time is a great deck, but I have found more success play with the Alternate Commander, Burakos, and his background Folk Hero. It increases the survivability of the deck by a lot by having more treasures for responses, while the draw from the folk hero is still pretty decent. If you combo with 8 and a half tails, you can consistently have an unblockable army plus be immune to all targeting spells and abilities

[@georgeforbus1313]

Super hyped to see team APS again!

[@qwertasdfg3447]

Buckle up from Kamigawa was also very good. Not recomended for new players, but it was very strong.

[@nuggetospaghetto]

The Planar Portal (Prosper, Tome Bound) precon was awesome.

[@ScornfulEg0tist]

yeah, I'm kinda surprised it didn't get a shoutout here the combination of ramp and card advantage on prosper is just so solid and the deck was really hot out of the box

[@the_gtcar]

I've played the Ahoy Matey's precon with Admiral Brass, Unsinkable against both other precons and custom made decks and it really holds its own. The ability to use the graveyard and trigger off mills makes it so on your side you really don't care about creatures having their initial death, and then there's a fair amount of "take control" creatures that really can deconstruct and opponents board. Round it out with some really harsh board wipes and it's a strong contender against anything out of the box

[@cleetusi9559]

This is great timing as a local Precon & Budget Tournament is coming up! Thanks prof! Also now I’m very interested in Timey Wimey 🤔

[@shmexy1787]

I love the necron pre-con so much , it has so much warhammer flavor and it represents them so well, just like necrons that deck is so resilient

[@joshua3539]

The Freyalise planeswalker deck, Guided by nature is ridiculous ramp and draw and swing with artifact and enchantment removal on tap. The consistency of making mana dorks or even a pretty achievable ultimate. It's a fierce decn

[@alrikster8377]

I somehow feel the Ixalan Merfolk deck "Explorers of the Deep" also stands out. That precon is an absolute menace.

[@raydelmartinez2905]

It's amazing how commander decks keep getting stronger over the years.

[@Achievement_Slayer]

My favorite pre-constructed deck is Daretti because I love red artifact decks (I like artifact decks in general)

[@FatalDreidel]

My first deck!

[@ToeJamandSterl]

Party time was the first modern pre con I bought. Started getting wins instantly and the mini game of assembling a party is really fun.

[@ScornfulEg0tist]

Food and Fellowship is also nutty, I remember being shocked to see toxic deluge included in a precon the deck is punchy, gaining lots of extra life from discounted food consumption and the ring with frodo provides a consistent card advantage engine

[@RhonwenBear]

My main issue is that it is very durdley. Great at gaining life, not great at closing games out.

[@benjaminking3677]

If you run Merry and Pippin as the commanders I agree. Having an overrun effect on your commander is powerful.

[@jonthompson8807]

My brother started me on vamps with Markov. Imma go with that and big tef protect from any hate

[@FistOfKhonshu-m7v]

I love how one moment Prof can go from "Universes beyond is so bloated, it's overshadowing the already beloved Magic IP!" to "Wheeee! Doctor Who!!! I love TimeyWimey!" Please never leave us Prof.

[@DiogoAzambuja]

Edgar Markov still holds up quite well in today's power level. All thanks to his busted Eminence ability. 6 years of upgrades have optimized this deck significantly.

[@dylanstraatham6006]

Windgrace was my first commander deck and my second deck i ever owned ive always favored him over any other deck

[@beruhigdichbittemeinbester9931]

I love Symbiotic Swarm. I upgraded mine a little bit and now it's pretty awesome. With every counter on my Commander (except for haste) it's pretty easy to deal the needed commander damage. And with hexproof it's not too easy to get rid of Kathril ( with hexproof it's not possible to cripple him with enchantments or Artifacts that make him into a 0/2 something)

[@andersrolig]

The Empty child/doctor dances is my favorite as well. ❤ Thx Brian. Funny how I own all of these apart from Urza. But still navigate towards Yidris,Atraxa,Breya and the rest of 2016. But I see how manabase and sutch is good.

[@CamiloNavarroo]

I had been wondering if you would ever do this video for like tha past week and boom, you drop it.

[@dominicsevilla1189]

Great video but i all I can think about is the promo for the next shuffle up and play with team APS. Super excited for that video to come out

[@spectre1006]

surprised you didnt mention the Alt commander Burakos and his background for Party time. also figured you would mention velociramptor

[@heroman505]

I love my Eldrazi Unbound deck, even without many upgrades it's a beast. But I find it really weird that they put in so many X-cost spells. I understand that by putting 13+ mana into one of these you can cascade into every other spell in the deck, but it feels rough when you hit one while you're cascading and have X=0 or just not cast it at all. Also, as many people agree, it needed way more Eldrazi creatures.

[@Roseknight888]

5:24 I heard the needle drop and had to check i didnt have 2 videos playing I dont assume any malice, but that tune is well known as the opener for moviebob's movie reviews

[@pepepepedrinho]

In our local game store we have a precon league (2nd year now) and have as nice ranking. Of those listed, just top 5 and 4 perform well in our league.

[@FatalDreidel]

Which ones perform the best that you’ve found ?

[@Mr0zirkusaffe]

love this guy, makes me want to go back and play mtg once more. New to commander however, tough it seems like the most fun way to play mtg. Will check it out locally. And dmnd, he makes me want to buy stuff :D Cheers!!

[@dankerus]

I modifed the ramp in Zhuldok and instated Karn, Legacy Reforged as comander to insure fun casts

[@thewatched8280]

"The best removal is player removal after all." Prof approves of murder.

[@excll808]

My introduction to Doctor Who was my friend sleeping over and having the empty child as his alarm sound

[@InfinityRift7]

Timeless Wisdom is also pretty good. The Ikoria precon cycle was pretty decent overall.

[@minine6508]

Exit from Exile was honestly one of the most insane decks I’ve ever played. It popped off harder than most of my own decks.

[@evangrescol7772]

Its a crime that Food and Fellowship, Mutant Menace, and honestly any of the LCI precons didnt make it on this list.

[@Theirishsk83r]

Yeah Sam and Frodo are strong

[@coryirvin6651]

These are some strong decks for sure. I love the necron deck. Though I have a hard time not seeing the Meren deck Plunder the Graves on this list. That deck was so strong out of the box, and even more so with minimal upgrades.

[@jesusojeda7850]

Draconic Domination and Vampiric Bloodlust say hi. Edgar Markov alone is worth more than most precons for a reason.

[@902496]

The old ones were better as a box of "cards for commander", rather than a cohesive deck. I don't regret buying any of the old ones because of the number of EDH staples I got as a result. Not just the big expensive cards like Atraxa or Dockside Extortionist, but a plentiful supply of sol rings, boots and greaves, and other low cost staples you want a few of lying around. The new ones are more cohesive, better put together decks, and they introduce cards that are good, but for much narrower applications (because the decks are more focused), with fewer new format staples emerging. I think it makes sense for a product aimed at onboarding new players. The old ones were nice for collecting and building a collection. The new ones are better for actually playing with out of the box. Newer players aren't buying them to immediately scrap for parts.