EDH: 5 Commanders for the End of the Year Festivities!

Now, let's discuss the commanders.

Valuing Friendships with Kardur

What can we say about this very adorable uncommon creature which is more or less the great guardian of friendship?

If you're not familiar with this one, Kardur is the commander in the precon deck "Chaos Incarnate", and has a very cool effect that targets your opponents, preventing the creatures they control from attacking you until the next turn.

For instance: Kardur enters the battlefield. The creatures your opponents control attack each combat if able and can't attack you until it is your turn again. If your opponent plays a creature with Haste before the battle phase, it must also attack, because the effect is affecting that creature's controller.

And that is why, when Kardur enters the battlefield, everyone starts valuing the true friendships, and your opponents must leave competition aside to make political deals typical of a Commander table.

Everything Kardur wants is to protect and promote friendship, forcing your friends to attack each other while you have your fun.

Kardur, Doomscourge Decklist

Interested? You can read more about this commander in our article entirely dedicated to it.

Welcoming Simplicity with Child of Alara

A Child of Alara deck is about life's simplicity and about valuing those who are on your side in this journey more than the treasures you hoard, because, at the end of the day, our companions are what matters.

This deck's whole strategy follows this line and values this uncomplicated side of Magic: you'll cast Child of Alara, attack or defend with this commander, and, when it dies, your opponents will understand the true message and will value simplicity as well.

In other words, as soon as your commander clears the board and removes all permanents, leaving everyone with just one land... You'll be teaching them a true life lesson, and the only price for that is your opponents' boards.

Child of Alara Decklist

This is a deck without any enchantments with complicated effects or cards with many lines of text we must reread over and over: it just has lands. Only what's simplest.

Oh, and another plus with this deck which is a big meme: with it, you'll never miss the opportunity to play a land.

I hereby give my special thanks to all players who laughed about the "99 lands, Child of Alara" joke with me in the past few years. Unfortunately, I don't know how this joke started, but it fit into this article's themes really well.

Being Selfless with Cecily and Othelm

In popular vernacular, these commanders are known as Cecily, Haunted Mage and Othelm, Sigardian Outcast, but there is another version of them directly from the Stranger Things Secret Lair as Eleven and Mike.

As they're part of a special set, they have a partner mechanic known as Friends Forever, which allows two commanders if both have the Friends Forever text.

This mechanic really reminds me of friendship, but the combination of Cecily and Othelm has other goals, such as selflessness, abnegation and empathy.

To help you promote these very beautiful values, the deck counts on several cards to clear your opponents' boards, copy them and even force them to sacrifice their permanents, as this way all will be sharing a unique feeling (possibly despair).

And you do all that without asking for anything in return.

Cecily, Haunted Mage and Othelm, Sigardian Outcast Decklist

Imagine how pleasurable it is to cast a Clone Legion, Cruel Ultimatum or Ruinous Ultimatum, without paying for their mana cost, while you celebrate something as beautiful as selflessness?

They have definitely found their home in this list!

Nekusar's Generosity

It is common at this time of the year that people exchange gifts and generosity gestures, love one another and show solidarity to others.

So, we chose a Zombie Wizard creature to represent and share these very beautiful human values.

This is, probably, one of the most famous commanders in this list. When we read its effect closely, we understand why: this Grixis creature helps all players by giving them extra draws, and solves, formidably, any problems with drawing cards in the game.

Its effect forces each player to draw an additional card during the drawing phase. Which means, at each turn you'll be drawing at least two new cards to your hand!

This Magic: The Gathering "Santa Claus" hands out presents to players who were naughty and nice during the whole year, and all it asks in exchange is 1 health point from the opponent each time they draw a card.

Nekusar, the Mindrazer Decklist

No more watching in silence while your friends sacrifice permanents, discard cards or work their way around a thousand different conditions just to have more options in hand. Just cast Nekusar and watch the magic happen, with cards like Peer into the Abyss and Phyresis to help you.

You can read more about this wonderful commander in this article.

Gor Muldrak's Benevolence

Last, but not least, we'll now talk about one of the most present sentiments at this time of the year: benevolence.

The dictionary defines it as "the quality of being well-meaning; kindness", and the commander who most represents this sentiment couldn't be anyone other than Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist.

At the beginning of your end step, Gor Muldrak gifts players (if there is a draw) with the least number of creatures on board a beautiful Salamander Warrior type creature to help that person, without asking anything in exchange.

This is a Group Hug deck to show to your friends how important they are to you, and how you'll always help them whenever you can.

Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist Decklist

Besides Salamander tokens, Simic helps you offer extra lands and draws so that everyone has great resources in the game.

Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist is an honest commander, and is very dedicated to helping other people, even if they are your opponents.

After we reflected on so many good things about the end of the year, surely you're excited about the festivities now, and ready to take this excitement to your Commander matches with friends!

Jokes aside, this list full of quips was built for players who like playing different decks and having fun with different themes. I hope you enjoy it and that you get inspired with good ideas for your next decks.

Before we finish, tell me: which commander do you think should be in this list, and why?

Think about the values and sentiments related to end of the year festivities and manifest good things to explain why that legendary creature deserved a place in this list. Maybe they make it to the next list, in a future article?

Happy Holidays!