Duel Commander: 5 Decks in Allied Colors

Today, we'll see 5 decks in allied colors that are quite powerful as well as budget-friendly. If you're looking for decks in enemy colors, though, don't worry: we'll show you that too, but on another day.

Some of these color combinations already see play in the meta and perform quite well. I deliberately left these options out because, ideally, I prefer writing separate deck techs for consolidated strategies.

All the decks below performed well in medium-to-high-level tournaments. We'll also show you how you can improve them, either directly (by swapping a certain card for another) or indirectly (by recommending a few cards). Furthermore, we'll also talk about the pros and cons to each strategy. We picked interesting lists that can easily become quite budget-friendly, so, without further ado, let's go!

Plagon is magnificent. Paying 3 mana on a creature that draws 2 to 3 cards when it enters is great. Plagon turns "barriers" into finishers, and killing it is usually a bad idea (all you want is to lose your Plagon so you can cast it again).

There's one problem, though: this strategy plays several suboptimal bad cards. Putting an Ornithopter in play, considering it costs 0 mana and acts as a body on the board (after all, it draws with Plagon!) is excellent. Except when you've already played your Plagon. Then you'll have wasted a chance to draw cards.

This type of thing makes this deck worse, and I believe it's the main reason why it isn't better. Save for a few exceptions (Aang, Giver of Runes, Dranith Magistrate), most creatures in this deck are not staples.

If you remove the bad creatures and a few situational cards (Cloudshift is pitiful), this deck builds a decent board, plays a powerful and cheap card advantage tool, and is blue (so it performs well against combos).

The list above is ready for the French meta, which sees more control and combo lists than other metas. I'd consider adding the following cards:

These cards aren't much, but, when you're against attackers, you'll need blockers. That will be enough. The fact that they aren't very powerful is quite bad because this encourages the opponent to attack over your barriers (any unblocked creature will deal damage, and you can take some removals). On the other side, Caelorna hits for 8 from turn 4 onward (it's funny until you lose to that).

Another interesting detail is that this deck is cheap. Tundra (which is entirely optional) is responsible for half what this deck costs. A budget mana base is definitely an option, considering this deck isn't color-intensive.

It might seem simple, but it's actually quite difficult to pilot! You'll need your board to draw cards. When should you play creatures? Or pass your turn with counters in your hand? Or play all your creatures? Or start using your mana to attack? These microdecisions add up, so you must stick to it if you want to master it. Keep an eye out for your progress and keep going!

Pros

It's no secret that a commander that draws cards is always very strong. Plagon truly is that strong. The fact this deck is blue is also quite helpful against "unfair" decks (all the combo decks, basically), and, against these decks, you can put a lot of pressure with heavy hitters.

This deck also plays cards that are very different from each other, which really complicates things for the opponent. If they don't know whether you play more creatures or interactions, they'll struggle with their decisions. As you play this deck and train with it, you'll be able to capitalize on their mistakes.

Cons

This deck is clumsy. Often, your own skill and experience will go a long way, but sometimes you'll have 2-mana interactions, 2-mana creatures, and two lands in play. Then, what should you do? Pass and keep the interaction, or play a creature? If your opponent doesn't do anything, what will you do on turn 3?

This type of early game decision comes up all the time, and making the right call is very difficult. It's not just a matter of skill because you'll often know what can happen, but you won't have enough information (this means you won't know what your opponent has in hand) to make the best decision. This type of situation sometimes looks like it will come down to skill, but, in practice, it's more about deckbuilding (and, in this case, you can't really solve this: this type of deck will always struggle with this).

Most cards designed for Commander are meant to see play in casual matches. Kindred lords that get no love, effects that are very shiny but don't really work well, or, if the card is in Boros colors, something related to equipment (WotC, please stop pushing equipment on us).

Basim Ibn Ishaq is an exception. It was clearly designed for Commander (playing 4-copy formats with many legendary cards is very complicated), but its effect is "small" and not at all effective in matches between 2 opponents with 40 life points each. In 1v1 matches, however...

Basim is a legendary two-color Slith with built-in card draw. Divination for 0 mana, like Mishra's Bauble, is simply a lot better than the other cards in the format.

Thanks to its "scalable" effect (it gives you more and more as each turn passes) and because of how cheap it is, this deck plays out like the perfect tempo deck. And, thanks to the current goals for the game itself, we get interesting options whenever a new set comes out, like legendary 1-drops, 2-drops, or 3-drops that do what this strategy needs to do.

Pros

Tempo decks don't lose to control or combo lists. All the cheap, efficient threats and counters make these matches a real nightmare for the opponents, particularly if you put the right amount of pressure on them and use the right interaction.

Seriously, the few times I saw these decks win against this strategy were super atypical situations. For instance, a 10-turn game in which you don't draw any counters. It could happen, but it's clearly quite rare.

Cons

You'll ask yourself why this deck isn't better positioned until you face a Slimefoot list. I can't say this match is impossible, but this list plays many cards that don't do anything against this opponent. Faerie Mastermind, Malcolm, and Snapcaster Mage, cards that usually shine, are too slow to attack and too small to block.

This matchup can be won. You can always get the good side of your deck (Oculus, Barrowgoyf, Subtlety) or get the explosive part (Basim on turn 2 with Subtlety as backup and a Remand on the following turn). The question is, even if you do that, you're just a small mistake away (like a Fatal Push on what you're using to put pressure) from losing. These matchups are entirely different from the combo and control matchups.

You can, of course, try to boost your deck to beat aggro lists. Cutting small creatures with flash and adding more removals or creatures that are better in combat is an idea. However, each change like this makes your deck worse in "easy" matchups (and you won't necessarily win the hard matchups), so I recommend caution when you make these decisions.

Still, we can suggest a few cards that work well in certain metas.

Artifacts that draw cards against control lists but that can interact early on can be quite helpful. A part of me wants to test out super slow drops, like Whip of Erebos or The Fire Nation Drill, but 4-drops go entirely against the idea of a tempo list.

Rakdos is a very strong, explosive color combination. Last year was rough: we lost Dark Ritual and Blood Moon, but this deck is still quite strong.

Its natural synergy with artifacts allows you to use a second Demonic Tutor (as Demonic Counsel), and, though this commander is slow, you can use Pyrokinesis with Fury.

Out of all the decks in this article, this is the one I am most uncertain when it comes to the list itself. But, before we move over to how we can improve it, let's see its pros and cons.

Pros

Flamewar draws lots of cards. In 2 turns, you can draw 5 cards with it (by attacking for 2 + 3) and that is certainly noteworthy. This commander can also dodge counters like Stern Scolding and is immune to removals at sorcery speed because it's a vehicle, so it is incredibly strong.

Rakdos is probably the best color combination for 1 for 1 trades through discards and removals. If you combine this with free spells but renew your hand, this deck becomes incredible.

Cons

Flamewar is all about synergy. The list above plays 14 ways to get artifacts (the artifacts themselves, two artifact lands, and two cards that create Treasures). If the main engine doesn't work (which can happen: you won't always sacrifice your Cori-Steel!), everything we argued above goes down the drain.

So, here are the cards you could add to it to improve it.

You could add a lot more, but there are many cards that create artifacts (or that are artifacts) and that do something when they enter. In fact, new cards more and more are "artifacts" that look like sorceries - they have an ETB effect and a long-lasting ability.

This means these cards get better whenever a new set comes out, but they struggle with a different problem. They aren't powerful enough to see play by themselves if they don't interact with another set of cards. This brings us to another argument: when you draw fuel, but the opponent destroys your engine, these cards get a lot worse.

At the end of the day, despite its weaknesses, I consider this deck quite decent and off-meta enough to catch opponents off-guard.

Oh, Gruul. This color combination was once a lot worse than it is today. Toph, Greatest Earthbender is a sensational commander, as well as quite explosive, but she needs a very specific set of cards and is based around lands (to no one's surprise, right?).

Roxanne, Starfall Savant has also performed well lately. The only reason we're not exploring it further is because, frankly, I didn't understand what, exactly, this deck does.

Klothys, however, is a super beloved commander that definitely feels like Gruul. This strategy is extremely budget-friendly, but it is still competitive. If you once believe that "Gruul is all about putting creatures in play and attacking", let us prove you wrong: this Gruul list is super complicated to pilot, particularly in the first few turns. You'll have to assess threats in your hand quite carefully to make it work.

It plays 16 permanents with a CMC of 3, besides the commander itself. So, which one you're playing on turn 2 is an extremely complicated decision.

Furthermore, most of the interactions it plays are creatures, whether they're Fury, Vibrance, or Flametongue Kavu (this card once defined metas!).

Pros

This card is incredibly difficult to pilot if you want to get the most out of it, but it does play big creatures and is quite fast. There is a good chance you win even if you misplay simply because your opponent might not have the right answers. Cards like Migloz are ways to interact with permanents that are not always vulnerable to interactions in a format without a sideboard.

Furthermore, this deck leans heavily into Stax. Winter Orb, Hall of Gemstones, and Devastation can all win the game by themselves, and are quite versatile. The more strategies you can draft, the more likely it is for your opponent to misplay.

And, by the way, this commander is good. Truly. The 2 damage it deals to opponents is great, but you must never underestimate the 2 life points it gives you. It also works as grave hate, which is incredible in a format that leans so heavily on that resource.

Cons

This is Gruul. This color combination is so bad at drawing cards that you need to use Geological Appraiser. Aside from Sylvan Library, no other card is efficient enough at drawing cards. You'll often find yourself losing pressure and being forced to draw a card, trigger Klothys, play a land, etc...

Because this list plays 36 lands and a huge number of dorks, your matches will not be perfect all the time. For instance, imagine you have 3 lands and a 4-drop you really want to play. Then you draw a dork, or a 2-drop, and your turn 4 simply becomes a lot worse than you imagined.

There are other cards that are great with this maindeck. They're all peculiar in their own way, whether that's a good way or a bad way. Wildfire struggles against creatures like Murktide Regent or Barrowgoyf. Experimental Frenzy creates card advantage, which this deck desperately needs, but it's still a 4-mana spell that doesn't do anything at first. It also leads you to some weird game states because ideally you want to play all the cards in your hand before you play this card.

This deck is not super powerful. If it were, it would be more popular. But, once you understand what it wants to do and what it can't do, it's an extremely fun, competitive option.

There is only one Selesnya list on mtgtop8 nowadays, and it's Enchantress (Sythis). This deck is quite complex and also needs a specific set of cards to work. Brigid, Clachan's Heart has been popping up, but it's listed as a Monowhite deck (well, Brigid is white). Brigid lists are aggro lists that play combo lines centered around infinite mana, with cards like Devoted Druid, Swift Reconfiguration, and Seedcradle Witch.

Honestly, this deck seems super fun. If it does become a thing in the meta, I'll probably write a decktech for it because this is the most unpopular color combination in Duel Commander!

But the Selesnya deck we'll show today is one I've had my eye on for a long time. It has performed well in some big tournaments, and it works really well overall.

Emmara was a funny card, but, let's be honest, how will we attack with a 2/2 creature? Decks that don't play creatures usually play lots of removals, and, against them, a creature that doesn't do anything when it enters and dies easily is simply not good enough.

But MTG is constantly evolving, and effects that let you tap your creatures come out all the time. Springleaf Drum has always been decent. Glare of Subdual hasn't, but it certainly makes sense in a go wide deck. Mechanics like Crew already existed, but Station and Saddle make this list more complex, to the point we can decide what we should or shouldn't use!

The number of creatures that do exactly what Springleaf Drum does is absurd. In this deck, they're better than "common" mana dorks. Anthem effects (cards similar to Glorious Anthem) are quite strong as well, and Lumen-Class Frigate is also a perfect fit. Lands that act as "mana sinks" also work really well (a playable Gavony Township is quite cool!).

Pros

Oh, and remember what we said about interaction in creature form? Playing white is so great. Skyclave Apparition is so much better than any other Gruul option...

Cons

This is still a Selesnya list. You'll hardly be able to come back into the game after taking a Toxic Deluge or a Supreme Verdict.

Misplaying is often common as well. For instance, you might not put enough pressure on the opponent because you're afraid to take a Toxic Deluge and end up losing.

You know those Anthems? They're great, but, if you don't draw any of them, this deck is an army of 1/1 creatures. Unlike the previous deck, which played 4 planeswalkers and an "enchantment" commander that are quite useful in long matches, this one needs to end the game soon. The only long matches you'll play will be aggro matchups, which could eventually drag on considerably.

I love unexpected, unpopular effects. These cards are overall weaker than others, though, so you need to be careful when you add them to your lists. You might end up with an overall weak deck as a results. But answers to Fury in a deck like this is always a good idea.

Stoneforge (and Cloud as well, why not?) tutors Skullclamp. Not using them, to me, is simply wrong.

Finally, Staff is slow, but it is one of the few ways to create card advantage in these colors. You can also tutor it with Enlightened Tutor. Flying is a super relevant keyword in combat (even if you just use it to block those Marit Lages that Azusa likes putting in play).

An open meta allows us to play multiple different strategies, which is wonderful. None of these lists might be super strong, but they're incredibly competitive. I, myself, got into a big tournament with Basim!

If you have just started playing Duel Commander and you're still struggling with figuring out what your opponent is playing, you could try playing these unusual lists. This way, you won't know what they're playing and they won't know what you're playing. It could give you many wins.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!