It’s no secret that Commander has long been the most popular MTG format by quite some margin. On paper, at least, this format is easily the most accessible, and arguably the most fun too. Following the introduction of the Commander Bracket System, the strengths of this format have only become stronger.
Unsurprisingly, part of this success, and accessibility, comes from the legions of preconstructed Commander decks Wizards has printed. Each offering a compelling, interesting, and often well-priced entry point into the format, Commander precons have proven to be incredibly popular. As such, there’s no denying that they have been a fantastic boon for MTG.
Despite their successes, many MTG players aren’t exactly happy with Wizards’ current precon production. Recently, there have been complaints about too many decks being created. At the same time, some players have been wishing that Wizards would create even more. Thanks to this, the correct way forward is rather unclear, but MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, is on the case.
Persuasive Polling
There’s no denying that Wizards of the Coast has been printing a lot of Commander precons recently. Previously, Wizards used to just print a handful of Commander decks each year. Now, however, each MTG set will have multiple, often four, preconstructed decks.
Throughout 2024, Wizards created 24 brand-new Commander precons. Given this is the equivalent of one MTG deck releasing every 15 ish days, it’s little wonder that players are peeved by Wizards pace. Despite this common complaint, Tumblr user Jaqeax recently took to Blogatog to ask for even more precons.
Specifically, Jaqeax hoped for new precons that aren’t connected for any given MTG set. As they point out, this would allow Wizards to support beloved yet rarely seen archetypes. While this sounds like a good idea, especially given the rise of Universes Beyond, Mark Rosewater didn’t confirm, nor deny, anything in their response.
Instead, Rosewater set up a poll to ask Blogatog readers how they felt about the current volume of Commander decks. Unsurprisingly, the response was a quick and emphatic request for less, as there is simply too much product. While there are still a few hours left in the poll, the request that Wizards make “a few less” decks is leading by far.
- Not enough, we should be making many more | 3.1%
- Not enough, we should be making a few more | 8.1%
- The perfect amount | 17.6%
- Too much, we should be making a few less | 42.7%
- Too much we should be making many less | 27.9%
With over 70% of this poll’s response requesting fewer Commander precons, what the community wants seems pretty clear. That being said, the audience on Blogatog is just a tiny subset of the wider MTG player base. Nonetheless, feedback is feedback and Rosewater has listened closely to the wants of Blogatog readers in the past.
Up and Down
Despite this poll being rather pretty clear-cut, no changes are guaranteed. Even if Rosewater did promise something, it’d likely take literal years until we saw any major change taking place. That said, these complaints have been raging for years now, and Wizards has been listening to players.
Throughout 2025, we’ve already seen Wizards begin to reduce the number of Commander products being released… Sort of. Aetherdrift, for example, only had two preconstructed Commander decks, and Edge of Eternities will also only have two. While this should help calm things a little, Tarkir: Dragonstorm is a step in the other direction.
For better or worse, Tarkir: Dragonstorm is getting five unique Commander decks. While this seems like an obscene change of pace, MTG players have been surprisingly receptive toward it. Since each one of the decks is for one of Tarkir’s five clans, it makes sense that they’re all represented.
Bizarrely, making as many decks as each set demands isn’t a hard and fast rule. As mentioned, Aetherdrift only had two precons, despite the set visiting three planes. While this decision disappointed many players, Rosewater did reason that there simply wasn’t enough content to make a Muraganda Commander deck.
Despite this variance, it seems there’s now a clear trend toward fewer Commander products. It was recently revealed that the Universes Beyond Spider-Man set won’t have any precons at all! Admittedly, while this is a very unexpected change, it may be due to the set’s nature, rather than aims to create fewer Commander decks.
What Players Want
At the end of the day, Wizards of the Coast is in a difficult position when it comes to Commander precons. We already know that they sell incredibly well, so there’s bound to be a financial incentive to make more decks. At the same time, players clearly want a reduction in products and aren’t shy about communicating that fact.
“I would like to see less made-for-commander stuff in general… feels like every set is a commander set these days and it just causes burnout”
Cookiecthulu
“I feel like forcing every set to have four decks kinda led to some undercooked designs last year, so I’m glad we’re getting less decks with stronger identities this year. I know that “Make less bad decks, make more good decks” is a self-evident point, but that’s basically how I feel overall, maybe with an asterisk that I prefer to buy about four decks a year, and even that’s starting to feel like too much.”
Singerofw
“Honestly, I do genuinely miss it being a once-a-year thing to get “Commander Christmas.” That’s when I actually gave a crap about product and spent the most money. Putting out so many just made me stop even looking at them”
Justin27m
Thankfully, while no future changes have been confirmed, even following this poll, Wizards is clearly willing to experiment. Between the Commander Brackets and Universes Beyond’s rise, MTG is in a state of flux right now. As such, it’s the perfect time to experiment with any changes that could benefit the MTG playing population.
Ultimately, it’s hard not to think back to the buffet analogy that has been used previously. While MTG players can often be overwhelmed by the options, there’s no mandate to play and buy everything. Extra options simply mean someone else is included, and, at worst, you have another product to ignore.
Admittedly, this solution isn’t exactly perfect since any new MTG card has meta-breaking potential. While this issue is lessened somewhat in Commander precons, it’s nonetheless hard to ignore new cards. This can result in dedicated MTG players feeling punished by too much content, rather than blessed by it.
Sadly, at the end of the day, there’s no perfect solution to solve this problem in an instant. Hopefully, Wizards can find the right balance to keep everyone happy going forward. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the future since any major changes are likely a year or two out at least.