What mechanics would you like to see in future Commander precon decks?

[Venedrex]

I've been going over the old C19 decks and brainstorming what a new take on precons themed around existing mechanics might look like.

I'm trying to think of what would be cool to have in a custom commander precon, and so far I'm tossing around a Temur energy commander, a Bant adventure commander and a Dimir surveil commander, but I thought I'd start a thread to see what other mechanics people would like to see in a precon, since I'm starting to doubt whether the aforementioned ideas are appealing to anyone but myself.

[Mookie]

As a reminder, mechanics we've seen decks for so far: morph, madness, populate, flashback, cycling, ability counters, mutate, and landfall.

I've had somewhat mixed feelings with regards to the mechanics-based precons. I usually enjoy brewing my own decks, which means I like commanders that are more open-ended, opposed to the ones that just say 'stick every card with this mechanic in your deck'. It's somewhat telling that my favorite commanders from those sets are the backup commanders, like Tayam, Luminous Enigma and Chainer, Nightmare Adept. That said, I could be more interested in the decks if they're for mechanics I particularly like.

....so cascaaaaaaade is my answer - Averna, the Chaos Bloom needs more support! I'd also be cool with additional support for exalted and improvise.

[Venedrex]

As a reminder, mechanics we've seen decks for so far: morph, madness, populate, flashback, cycling, ability counters, mutate, and landfall.

I've had somewhat mixed feelings with regards to the mechanics-based precons. I usually enjoy brewing my own decks, which means I like commanders that are more open-ended, opposed to the ones that just say 'stick every card with this mechanic in your deck'. It's somewhat telling that my favorite commanders from those sets are the backup commanders, like Tayam, Luminous Enigma and Chainer, Nightmare Adept. That said, I could be more interested in the decks if they're for mechanics I particularly like.

....so cascaaaaaaade is my answer - Averna, the Chaos Bloom needs more support! I'd also be cool with additional support for exalted and improvise.

Thanks for the response! That's definitely a fair point about not wanting to be locked into a specific set of cards for deckbuilding. Cascade, exalted and improvise are certainly cool mechanics. Do you think exalted could use a better commander than Rafiq of the Many, or just more cards in general, or both?

A Grixis improvise commander could be pretty sweet too... hmm this is great food for thought.

[Mookie]

Do you think exalted could use a better commander than Rafiq of the Many, or just more cards in general, or both?

Hmmmm.... I threw exalted in my list primarily because I'd like there to be more incentives for actually attacking in the format, particularly attacking with commanders. I don't have a strong attachment to the mechanic itself, but I do like exalted triggers like the ones on Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis and Finest Hour. I also appreciate backdoor voltron strategies from cards like Sublime Archangel and Blackblade Reforged. So, I'd probably lean towards more cards in general - one of the issues with the exalted mechanic is that the base payoff (+1/+1) isn't that exciting, particularly in EDH. If there were something like 'exalted + when you attack alone, draw a card' or 'exalted + when you attack alone, Rampant Growth', I could see that fitting in a lot of decks, and also incidentally encourage more attacking-friendly commanders.

[Sheriff]

Splice could be an interesting one.

@Mookie I'm the other way around, I enjoy the "sign-post" Commanders the most (especially the Morph and Cycling ones, those had me itching to build them.)

[folding_music]

This might be the most boring answer in the world, but scry! A commander who promoted scry with some sort of "After you scry" bonus would suit me cos I'm already fascinated by In Search of Greatness and Isolated Watchtower and old tiny effects like Stand Firm and Augury Owl which basically justify themselves with the scry. Have the commander be undercosted for its power and abilities but also say "When you play a spell or ability that shuffles your own library, sacrifice me" - that's a fun deck building challenge anyway, and I know I'm not the only person who tries to make decks with zero tutors! You could use a commander like that to make some sort of magnum opus personal deck rather than a big synergetic quick win and that's my scene. No idea what colour the deck'd be, but probably base blue, maybe bant or jeskai?

my fave mechanics in the game are Suspend and Madness; Madness already got a precon and I think Anje's Ravager is probably too pushed so I wouldn't unleash them on the other =P

[DirkGently]

Top picks include:

-Level up
-Transform
-Cipher
-Manifest
-Splice
-Split Second
-Imprint

Although in some cases I'm more interested in seeing a commander that just has the ability than one that incentivizes other cards with it (like level up - atraxa is already pretty effective with level up I suppose).

Of them, I think transform is the one I'd most like to see a mechanic-incentivization commander for.

This might be the most boring answer in the world, but scry!

Eligeth, Crossroads Augur?

[folding_music]

^ Eligeth's a start, but super underwhelming, and I try not to play the "When you do the thing, draw a card" commanders :))))

[Serenade]

I have not thought this idea through entirely, so I am hoping there is not immediately a combo that would break it: dash! I'm not saying it needs a legend that would have some sort of "gravity" effect that disables being returned to hand (also would be a defense against blue). Mostly it could help creatures that are attacking AND ETB this turn. Some kind of pro-aggro thing.

Maybe it just ends up being haste-support.dec, with effects similar to trample/vigilance/flash/menace/flying support in Ikoria. Though we still need a BR menace-support legend….maybe it would all be part of the same deck.

[materpillar]

I'd love Imminent Doom the commander. That card would be such janky fun and present such an interesting deck building challenge.

It'd be cool if they just did decks based on old sets vorthos style. Using only mechanics and cards from those sets. Kamigawa commander deck. Innistrad commander deck. Dominaria deck. I'd prefer they drove players towards flavor rather than specific mechanics.

[Sanity_Eclipse]

It'd be cool if they just did decks based on old sets vorthos style. Using only mechanics and cards from those sets. Kamigawa commander deck. Innistrad commander deck. Dominaria deck. I'd prefer they drove players towards flavor rather than specific mechanics.

I think I'd be on board with this. I'm a bit hesitant but I'm pretty sure it's just because the first Commander deck sets that we have had directly tied to certain worlds were not the most interesting worlds to me, personally. IKO, ZNC weren't bad or great, KHM's and STX's C21 decks were better.

Mechanically, just things that certain pairs/shards/wedges can do, but they just don't have commanders for. Like, a custom commander I started to think up was a Fight dragon. Jund's commanders at present are expensive, dragons (sometimes both), sacrifice-based (sometimes all 3), and overall so repetitive between those and similar enough themes that I'm utterly bored when I look through the options.

An easy option would be tribal commanders (or ones that could be used for tribal, but not necessarily) in slightly odder color combinations. Yes, Kethis exists but he's a weird legendary payoff thing that shuts off reanimation/retrieval to an extent in the colors that are best at it. Just, what? Lands, or maybe Energy as mentioned above would be cool.

[pokken]

More archaeomancers maps

[Dragoon]

A Temur energy commander was in the works at some point but had to be cut when the Amonkhet block was designed. I think there is a reasonable chance we'll see it at some point.

As much as I love cascade, they released the Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder precon a few years ago and I think a new cascade deck might feel too close to this one. Same goes for manifest and Aminatou, the Fateshifter.

I personally would like to see commanders that synergize with things a bunch of mechanics do, such as discarding cards, putting counters, etc. That way, they can offer very synergistic deckbuilding options, but can still feel varied as each player can put the emphasis on only one of those mechanics if they so choose. They don't need to be as busted as Atraxa, Praetors' Voice or Korvold, Fae-Cursed King though, and I would prefer if they include one or two odd colors in the mix, to shake things up (like Ghen, Arcanum Weaver did).

[Krishnath]

Any pre-Invasion mechanic other than Bands with Others. Give me a Banding Deck. A Rampage Deck would make me cackle with glee. Bring on Flanking, Shadow, and Buyback. Cumulative upkeep would make my happiness grow. We've already had a decent cycling deck thanks to Ikoria, but another one in different colors would not hurt. A sliver commander deck would be fun, as would one with spikes. An Echo could be interesting as well. And a spellshaper deck would be insane (throw in Madness, Threshold, and Delirium for good measure).

[ilovesaprolings]

Mardu vehicles
Temur energy
Deserts
Abzan explore
Surveil
Riot

[Dunharrow]

I will just say that I liked Vega, the Watcher as the foretell commander much more than the actual foretell commander.
I really like it when commanders are not restricted to a specific mechanic.
I would love a commander for an energy deck, but I do not want a commander that is only good for energy. Instead of specifically referencing energy counters, could it interact with experience counters too? Maybe even poison counters?

Anyway, that is definitely the one I want the most, Energy. Green and Blue are musts since those are the colors that to me had the coolest energy cards.

[Venedrex]

I will just say that I liked Vega, the Watcher as the foretell commander much more than the actual foretell commander.
I really like it when commanders are not restricted to a specific mechanic.
I would love a commander for an energy deck, but I do not want a commander that is only good for energy. Instead of specifically referencing energy counters, could it interact with experience counters too? Maybe even poison counters?

Anyway, that is definitely the one I want the most, Energy. Green and Blue are musts since those are the colors that to me had the coolest energy cards.

Have you considered Atraxa, Praetors' Voice? She seems to check a lot of the boxes your describing in terms of Energy and multiple forms of counters.

[pokken]

Atraxa is just too independently powerful. You almost can't make a truly casual deck with her because of how she dominates combat.

[Venedrex]

Atraxa is just too independently powerful. You almost can't make a truly casual deck with her because of how she dominates combat.

OK, sure, but I was generally suggesting a commander that seemed to fit what Dunharrow was talking about mechanically, not power level wise. I don't know their meta or what power level they play in, I was just pointing out that something like what they were asking for may already exist.

[Venedrex]

Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone, this has really helped me solidify some ideas.

Here are some ideas:

Grixis Improvise artifacts
Bant Exalted
Jeskai Splice
Azban Adventure
Suspend
Jund Transform (little leery to do this just because of the new Innistrad sets likely having a transform commander or two)
Temur Energy
Scry commander
Dash/gravity commander. (I like the idea of anti-bounce)


Krishath, your suggestion of rampage flanking and other old combat mechanics is something I was mulling around a bit in my head as well. I have this weird idea for a Naya commander themed around something like provoke, rampage, and flanking that I'll be working on. I'm thinking some Orc or Giant, and drums/war theme.

[duducrash]

With commander products being tied to sets. Id like to see

Kamigawa 2022

Arcane
Ninjutsu
Spirit*
Legendary matters


Eeeh idk spirits

[kirkusjones]

I'm probably in the minority here, but man I want DREDGE. Ideally in BG, but UB might be cool too. I just want more dredgers, dammit. But since MaRo hates it with the passion of a thousand stubborn sons, I shall have to be content with Life from the Loam & co.

[BeneTleilax]

Modular

[Hermes_]

Horsemanship.......

[TheGildedGoose]

Paint-by-numbers mechanics commanders don't interest me in the slightest, but I would love to see the following two archetypes enabled:

Abzan spellslinger control
Temur or Grixis tempo

Search for Blex enabled an interesting archetype in Golgari spellslinger but unfortunately the win conditions in that color combo are too similar to MBC, so building it feels redundant for me.