Commander Format Panel member Kristen Gregory talks about the decks she’s built, taken apart, and upgraded through the year. How many will make the cut for a new year of Commander?
Last year I put up a second “Class of” article, with 2023’s graduates. I had a lot of fun with it, so let’s run it back. You can check out previous entries on the journey here:
Doing this is always fun. It’s a look back at what I tried to make work and what made it through the year. It highlights what inspired me, the lessons I learned, and what I want to enjoy in the format going forward.
COMMANDERS THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE CUT
First up, let’s check out the decks from last year that didn’t end up making it through the year.
BuRakdos was a very fun deck to play, and it offered very consistent wins. The treasure production proved to be powerful, especially as it was a win condition as well as a way to accelerate. Games with Harmonic Prodigy and/or Mirkwood Bats proved to be the strongest outings, but what I enjoyed most about the deck was using Dragonspark Reactor and Vat of Rebirth. Weirdly I never once drew Spiteful Banditry, so I have no idea if the card performs well or not. On the other hand, Monumental Corruption is a great wincon and very satisfying to resolve.
Ultimately I retired the deck as it was quite samey to pilot, and felt quite hard to lose with.
Dihada, similarly, felt quite samey to play. Despite being a collection of the “coolest” Legends I enjoyed playing, it was just a Mardu Living Death deck in all actuality. It’s an archetype I grew tired of, and despite Dihada being a powerful Commander, I found the deck quite boring to play. Dihada is just a very strong Commander, and feels quite unsatisfying to play long term. I might revisit the build another time, but for now? I’ve had my fun.
Typal decks took many casualties in my collection this year. The first that didn’t make it was Lathril. Lathril was a fun deck, and especially fun in the way I built it: an aristocrats build, built around her drain 10 life ability. Getting to untap with Vitalize never gets old… until it did. I had the deck for a good 3+ years, and it was time to try something new.
The same goes for Edgar Markov. Edgar is probably one of the best Vampire Commanders there is, and sure, I did really enjoy the deck. The +1/+1 counters theme I ran, which had Retribution of the Ancients, was a blast to play with. I also enjoyed running the deck as a more midrangey kinda build. The problem I ran into was mainly just that I’d played the deck for many, many years. I just rinsed it for all that I could.
Finally, Sarkhan, Soul Aflame perished too. One thing I noticed this year playing Commander was that many of the playgroups I played in used “new-school” Commanders, which often have some form of card draw in the Command Zone. When you’re playing a typal deck, you want that card advantage in the CZ even more. When you don’t have it, a good amount of your games you’ll just run out of cards. When typal decks are usually combat damage wins, that can prove to be a fragile strategy.
Sarkhan did get to rely on Rhystic Study, but the more I played with Study, the more I started to feel it was such a feast or famine card in lower power typal decks that it over inflated the deck’s win rate, and was a bit of a crutch.
NEW BUILDS THAT DIDN’T QUITE MAKE IT
Speaking of typal, I have really cooled off on it this year, huh? I actually built a typal deck, of sorts, with Nalia de’Arnise. Nalia Mechanique de’Arnise Cardinale stretched the build around to the limits, running as many cards that could be cast off the top as possible. It was a decidedly lower power build, but I found the deckbuilding challenge to be entertaining at least.
I retired the deck mostly because I didn’t find myself getting to play with it often.
My Isshin deck Dungeons and Damage was one of the most “me” decks I’ve had the pleasure to play. It’s an aggro deck, and it turns sideways. That’s it. That’s what it does, and it does it very well.
If you’ve not had the pleasure of playing Caustic Bronco or Anim Pakal with Isshin, you really need to try. Connecting the Dots was also phenomenal for me. The reason the deck was taken apart was mainly to find parts for other builds. I had my sights on Aurelia, the Law Above, and she needed a bunch of tech from this deck. I also just got a bit tired of playing so much Mardu.
Sally Sparrow was a departure from my usual builds. An Azorius Flicker build, You Can Blink If You Want to, You Can Leave Your Friends Behind ended up being a very “Azorius” build. It was very control heavy, and I think my tendency to eschew combos meant that the deck took just a wee bit long to actually… win.
That said, it gave me an appreciation for powerhouses like Aerial Extortionist and Angel of Indemnity, and I got to play with favorites like Faerie Mastermind, Portal Manipulator, and Three Steps Ahead.
I think I’ll come back to Azorius in 2025 for a re-do.
HURT BY THE BANS
There was one new deck I built this year that was hamstrung by the bans, and for that reason alone, it didn’t survive to year’s end. Malaka Top End Won’t Stop Me was my version of a high-powered, optimized equipment deck, designed to play at high-power tables against combo decks. The deck managed this through using Mana Crypt and Jeweled Lotus, and Dockside Extortionist.
Kassandra was a supremely powerful Commander when factoring in fast mana, and I was regularly able to achieve a table kill with her by Turn 6, with eliminations occurring in conjunction with Excalibur, Sword of Eden as early as Turn 4.
The deck achieved everything I wanted it to, and before the bans, this deck absolutely would have made the cut to the end of the year. However, with the bans, I had to reconsider the goals of the deck. I didn’t feel like it could compete still without access to fast mana, as aggro decks have to be supremely fast to deal with combo decks at those kinds of tables.
I’m not saying I won’t come back to her, but my eventual rebuild will have to be quite different as she’ll be aimed at slightly slower tables.
As Kassandra used a lot of the same pieces as Nahiri, I basically swapped Nahiri to Kassandra part way through the year. After the bannings, I swapped back to Nahiri. The most recent list is Nahiri 2: The Reckoning.
NEW COMMANDERS I FELL IN LOVE WITH
Now for the fun section. The new sparks that really brought me joy, and that managed to stay in my deck drawer for year’s end.
First up, let’s Enter the Junderdome with Henzie “Toolbox” Torre. Henzie took over from Dihada as my reanimator deck, and it’s a choice I haven’t looked back on. Using green means we aren’t tied to our Commander for mana acceleration so much, and if you kill Henzie… well, he just comes back stronger, with a greater cost reduction.
Henzie has been an absolute blast to play, and I can’t get enough. I want nothing more than to blitz Ojer Kaslem or World Shaper to ramp into oblivion. Rampant Rejuvenator and Primeval Herald are pretty good at that too, actually. Once you have the mana? This deck is just entirely heaters all the way down.
I went for what’s known as a “Turn 3” Henzie deck. My build eschews the mana dorks it would need to get Henzie out consistently on Turn 2. By making this choice, I am able to run way more “Post-Henzie Blitzers” – which basically means way more Timmy cards. Old Gnawbone, Etali, Primal Conqueror, Vaultborn Tyrant… the list goes on, and on, and on. I have a total of 40 creatures in the 99, with 36 of them being post-Henzie.
I get to play my favorite card – Living Death – plus the creature version, Bringer of the Last Gift. Spinning the wheel on Apex Devastator? Never gets old.
If you’re interested in playing Henzie, I’ll shout out the Henzie Discord, who have been a fun bunch to brew alongside this year.
Next up, I loved Aurelia, the Law Above. I’ve been looking for a way to use my favorite Angel for a while. The six-mana Aurelia the Warleader is just a tad expensive in the CZ nowadays, especially with no draw. Enter MKM Aurelia, who brings card draw and a cheaper casting cost.
The build for this Aurelia is kind of open ended. I settled on a deck that’s part Lord of the Rings, part Humans, part Tokens, and has a secret Commander of Winota in the deck for cheeky value wins. The deck’s name “Gondor Calls for Aid!” “…and the Boros Will Answer” tells you all you need to know.
I found evasive vigilant bodies to be the bread and butter of the deck, so Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, Giada, Font of Hope, Ornithopter of Paradise and Wokej Investigator were key adds. Stalwart Pathlighter might be the card of the year for the deck, though. It won me a lot of games.
RETURNING TO MY ROOTS
Alongside playing Aurelia – and to an extent Henzie, as it channels a lot of my old Chainer and Meren builds – I went back to my roots with an Angels typal deck. After losing Elves, Vampires, Dragons and Orzhov Party, I felt a Typal sized hole. Despite still not having a good multicolor Commander, I opted for Giada, Font of Hope to succeed my Lyra Dawnbringer deck of old.
Giada is positioned quite well in the current overall Commander metagame. There’s a real dearth of board wipes, so building tall flyers can just give you early inevitability. When paired with a lifegain strategy, you can create a decent buffer for running out of cards. Two Steel Blades & The Wings of Freedom On Our Backs has a lower curve than the Angel decks of old, and utilizes some great white card draw options like Rammas Echor and Trouble in Pairs.
Giada is a great excuse to trot out Mox Amber, and use equipment to shore up the weaknesses of mono-white. Alongside classic equipment, Conjurer’s Mantle has been great to dig for Angels. Patchwork Banner is all that good.
NEW PRECONS THAT I REALLY ENJOYED
Rounding out the adds for the year are my two favorite precons. Valgavoth is one I upgraded since purchasing, as I felt it really did need cards like Deflecting Swat and Bolt Bend to use the Commander as win condition. The deck is fun to play, despite my Commander being constantly Mind Controlled. Tempo Tantrum is probably my deck that still needs the most tuning, because I simply need to play more games with it.
The other Precon I’m using is Disa, the Restless, and it’s unedited out of the box. This deck just hums, and has a lot of winning power without upgrading it all. It’s my most recent deck, as I picked up a copy in the Black Friday sales.
The temptation to upgrade it is there, though, and so I reserve the right to do so in 2025. Damn, 2024 has been a Jundy kinda year, eh?
COMMANDER CLASS OF 2024
So, that brings us to my Class of 2024. The total number of decks graduating to 2025 is nine. So, let’s introduce them.
Drumroll, please.
As covered earlier, the first 6 decks are Henzie, Aurelia, Giada, Valgavoth, Disa, and Nahiri.
Next up is a long-time deck of mine now, Hofri Ghostforge. いってらっしゃい / See You Later (This Turn) is my love letter to Boros Reanimator, and to the Japanese art treatments I’ve really enjoyed. It has a foiled out Neon Dynasty Full Art Basic manabase, my expedition lands, and a host of Japanese Showcase cards, from Secret Lairs to Borderless.
The deck is one I often refer to as my “Sultai” deck, as it plays kind of like one. The win conditions are most often Hallowed Spiritkeeper or Cavalier of Flame, and it wins by putting creatures or lands into the graveyard. It can also win with combos involving Altar of Dementia or Goblin Bombardment/Warleader’s Call.
The deck lost Dockside Extortionist – and by extension, some level of explosiveness – this year, which did slow it down a bit. I need to review it going into next year and consider whether I want to add more tutors or redundancy for the win conditions, or more card/mana accelerants. Overall, still really love this deck.
My Enchantress deck is also a Voltron deck, as it focuses on Auras. “Aura Aura ✧･ﾟ:( ͡ꈍ ͜ʖ̫ ͡ꈍ ):･ﾟ✧” as it is affectionately named, is one of my most consistent decks. This year it got a whole host of upgrades, but my choice to give it more land ramp in the Exploration/Burgeoning/Case of the Locked Hot House package has provided it one of the biggest upgrades it has had for a while.
Season of Gathering, Strength of the Harvest, Twinblade Blessing and Idolized were also huge adds, and the deck is heading into 2025 as a firm favorite of mine and a mainstay in my roster.
Finally, it’s one of my oldest decks, if not the oldest one I have: Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale. This has long been my go-to Voltron deck, and I think part of the reason it endures is just how fun Sunforger is to run when you can equip it for free. Sunforger has aged like a fine wine.
Gywnbleidd has enjoyed many upgrades this year. From Kassandra and the Spear of Leonidas – and Excalibur, too! – from Assassin’s Creed, to Spree Instants Great Train Heist and Final Showdown, I’ve found fresh lines of play and added potency from the cards on offer this year. I think I want to add a Bureau Headmaster or similar two drop to the list. What’s your cut?
END STEP
So, there’s my Class of 2024. Nine decks ported over to the new year feels like a great number. Looking ahead, I want to try another Azorius deck, and perhaps switch Nahiri back to Kassandra. I also have a feeling I’ll be building something from the upcoming Tarkir set for sure.
What’s in your Class of 2024? Let me know on BlueSky.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.