One of the biggest appeals of preconstructed Commander decks in Magic: the Gathering is being able to open the box, sleeve up the deck, and enjoy Magic amongst friends. Building a Commander deck can be not only expensive, but surprisingly time consuming. Even if you’re just copying a deck you think looks cool, finding all the individual cards still costs money and time.
The trade-off is that the preconstructed MTG decks aren’t necessarily the strongest or the most unique. Unless you’re ready to shell out hundreds of dollars for a deck, which many MTG players aren’t, your money will only be able to take you so far. Bringing a preconstructed MTG deck to a table full of unique builds can end up being a power mismatch, putting you behind the others.
Fortunately, if your Commander playgroup plays at a level that is above many of the preconstructed Commander decks, there are a few that perform better than the rest. If you’re looking for the most powerful Commander preconstructed decks right out of the box, look no further!
This article is specifically rating how powerful a Commander deck is out of the box. This has nothing to do with how expensive the cards in the deck are, but there is obviously some overlap. If you’re looking for the best Commander precon value-wise, you can find that here.
As a note, we will not be including the Secret Lair preconstructed decks in this article. They do function on a much more powerful level than even the decks on this list, but they also cost a lot more money to purchase.
We also couldn’t resist mentioning our personal favorite for preconstructed Commander goodness, but the deck does require a very slight adjustment, so we’re mentioning it as an honorable mention instead.
Honorable Mention
Whenever I personally recommend a preconstructed Commander deck to someone, it’s either our number one choice or this Commander preconstructed deck with a very slight adjustment. Since the deck technically isn’t being played right out of the box, we’ve listed it as an honorable mention.
Obscura Operation, with just one card added, can duke it out with even the best commander precon decks out there. The card you need to add has a secondary market price of about $5 at the time of writing, but Obscura Operation, according to TCGplayer, is available for under $30, making this a budget pick compared to the other Commander preconstructed decks on this list.
What is the very slight adjustment, you may ask? Simple! Buy Raffine, Scheming Scholar as a single and play it as your Commander. Take the deck’s face Commander and add it to the 99, removing whatever card you don’t jive with the most.
Raffine, Scheming Seer at the helm of Obscura Operation absolutely transforms the deck. This deck is chock full of small creatures that are difficult to block in order to trigger the Connive effect of Kamiz, Obscura Oculist. Like it or not, Raffine’s Connive ability is just better. Not only can Raffine come down quicker than Kamiz, but Raffine benefits more if you end up going wide with unblockable creatures which, in our experience, does happen quite a bit with this deck. Create a massive creature, and find Kamiz, which kind of turns into a Secret Commander, to Double Strike your way to a kill out of nowhere.
The absurd amount of card selection that Raffine offers allows you to sculpt your hand to your liking in order to deal with the threats presented by other decks, but this deck’s lategame does suffer a bit in comparison to the actual out-of-box Commander decks that are ranked on this list.
Eldrazi Unbound
Many of the Commander Masters preconstructed decks play well, but Eldrazi Unbound is a cut above the rest. As strong as the collection of Commander Masters decks are, their strengths just don’t align with the price tags. These Commander decks were absurdly overpriced at release – except for Eldrazi Unbound. The proof can be found in the decks current value on the secondary market. The other preconstructed Commander Masters decks just didn’t hold up. Eldrazi Unbound persisted, and is ultimately the most valuable preconstructed Commander deck that released this year, and still offers positive value over Magic’s 30 years.
Eldrazi Unbound is pretty unique; it’s the only colorless preconstructed Commander deck on the market. The goal is to ramp up big and dump a ton of Eldrazi onto the board, turning the corner violently. Zhulodok’s double Cascade effect ensures that each of your big colorless spells goes the distance, and Rise of the Eldrazi combined with Kozilek, the Great Distortion ensures that you can create massive tempo swings and leave your opponents in the dust.
If you’re looking to pick up a copy of Eldrazi Unbound, we happen to be giving one away! Find all the details here.
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Necron Dynasties
Many MTG players consider Necron Dynasties to be the best Commander precon deck of all time. While it doesn’t quite line up in the value department, this deck is seriously powerful, and incredibly consistent. Having a mono-black manabase means that you’re going to ‘do the thing’ almost every time.
Much like our number one pick, Necron Dynasties performs well because it has an incredibly consistent gameplan that can go deep into the game. Where other decks run out of steam, Necron Dynasties just keeps ramping up. That said, the lategame that this deck does offer may pale compared to our number one pick, at least in our opinion.
Honestly, the only reason why Necron Dynasties isn’t number one on this list is because my experience playing the top two decks against each other in a pod of four, Necron Dynasties just doesn’t stand up to being the absolute best. No matter how good Necron Dynasties is, it still fell to our #1 pick.
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Hosts of Mordor
The final title for the best Commander precon deck is really a toss up between the first and second picks on this list. In my personal experience, however, I’ve found that Hosts of Mordor slots better into a majority of casually constructed Commander decks, preconstructed or not.
Hosts of Morder has an absolutely disgusting lategame. Unless your opponents are trying to end the game quickly, your deck will come online and take over the game eventually. Between tons of boardwipes, reanimation effects and crazy haymakers that provides a ton of value, Hosts of Mordor is primed to beat down on the casual landscape.
If your opponents are trying to assemble an infinite combo and combo out on the early turns of the game, however, Hosts of Mordor won’t put up much of a fight.
Sadly, Hosts of Mordor can be quite expensive to purchase, going for a bit of a premium over the traditional price of a preconstructed Commander deck. The good news is that your value will be reimbursed, as Hosts of Mordor also happens to be one of the most valuable preconstructed Commander decks in MTG! Not only is the deck powerful, but the cards are worth money!
The lategame for Hosts of Mordor is scary and inevitable, putting this as our vote for the best Commander precon deck out-of-box.
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