Best starter box for the Commander Challenge?
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 11:29 pm
So me and a friend have been talking about this since Gavin put out the video about the Commander Challenge League, and we decided we wanted to do something similar. Since we'll only be playing against each other it won't be so much of a league as a fun challenge instead of playing the same four decks over and over (with a few tweaks between each session).
For those who don't subscribe to Good Morning Magic over on Youtube, here are the basics: Each player purchases a booster box, then builds a commander deck with only the cards of said box and of course basic lands (so it's a good idea to pick a set with a good ratio of legendary creatures), then play your deck(s) for a predetermined period (usually a week or two for a league). You are allowed to change decks between sessions if you'd like, but all the cards need to be from your initial pool. Once the predetermined pool is up, you are allowed to add the cards from six unopened boosters from any one set to your pool of cards to build from. Then you play again for the same period of time before adding another six boosters from a previously unpicked set, and so on. Each time you add six boosters they have to be from a set you haven't picked yet. All normal deckbuilding rules and banlists apply.
It seems like a fun deck building challenge, and will greatly improve our skills in that department. We've decided to stick with boosters that contain 15 cards, because those sets tend towards having enough cards to make it at least possible to build a commander deck from them.
So the question is, which booster box is the best to start with. Over the last three years, it seems like Dominaria, Theros: Beyond Death, and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths are the best choices thinking purely from a number of eligible legendary creatures and the chance of pulling at least one legendary creature. Of those, Ikoria has the best potential mana base, having no less than eleven common lands for mana fixing options, with a cycle of uncommon artifacts for three color mana fixing. War of the Spark is a potential candidate with the legendary creatures split pretty even between rare and mythic, with a lone uncommon legendary making it likely that you open at least one to build around. However, the high level of multicolor cards could make a monocolored deck problematic, it also is pretty lacking in mana fixing at common in the form of lands. Dominaria has the biggest selection of legends, with many good ones at uncommon, but is lacking in common mana fixing. Theros: Beyond Death is also quite lacking in common mana fixing options, but also has a high number of good build around me uncommon legendaries (including Eutropia the Twice-Favored, one of my personal favorites), but again, is pretty lacking in common mana fixing (which is not really an issue with a monocolored deck to be fair). Of the ones from the last three years, it appears that Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths has the best Legendary to Manafixing ratio.
But the question remains: Which set, in all of MTG, would be the best to start with (within reason, very few people can afford a box of Legends after all.)?
For those who don't subscribe to Good Morning Magic over on Youtube, here are the basics: Each player purchases a booster box, then builds a commander deck with only the cards of said box and of course basic lands (so it's a good idea to pick a set with a good ratio of legendary creatures), then play your deck(s) for a predetermined period (usually a week or two for a league). You are allowed to change decks between sessions if you'd like, but all the cards need to be from your initial pool. Once the predetermined pool is up, you are allowed to add the cards from six unopened boosters from any one set to your pool of cards to build from. Then you play again for the same period of time before adding another six boosters from a previously unpicked set, and so on. Each time you add six boosters they have to be from a set you haven't picked yet. All normal deckbuilding rules and banlists apply.
It seems like a fun deck building challenge, and will greatly improve our skills in that department. We've decided to stick with boosters that contain 15 cards, because those sets tend towards having enough cards to make it at least possible to build a commander deck from them.
So the question is, which booster box is the best to start with. Over the last three years, it seems like Dominaria, Theros: Beyond Death, and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths are the best choices thinking purely from a number of eligible legendary creatures and the chance of pulling at least one legendary creature. Of those, Ikoria has the best potential mana base, having no less than eleven common lands for mana fixing options, with a cycle of uncommon artifacts for three color mana fixing. War of the Spark is a potential candidate with the legendary creatures split pretty even between rare and mythic, with a lone uncommon legendary making it likely that you open at least one to build around. However, the high level of multicolor cards could make a monocolored deck problematic, it also is pretty lacking in mana fixing at common in the form of lands. Dominaria has the biggest selection of legends, with many good ones at uncommon, but is lacking in common mana fixing. Theros: Beyond Death is also quite lacking in common mana fixing options, but also has a high number of good build around me uncommon legendaries (including Eutropia the Twice-Favored, one of my personal favorites), but again, is pretty lacking in common mana fixing (which is not really an issue with a monocolored deck to be fair). Of the ones from the last three years, it appears that Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths has the best Legendary to Manafixing ratio.
But the question remains: Which set, in all of MTG, would be the best to start with (within reason, very few people can afford a box of Legends after all.)?