Gavin Verhey is back with three ways to improve your commander decks in today’s edition of Good Morning Magic.
Verhey starts off the advice with something almost every Magic deck should do no matter the format: play more lands. Games go long and hitting land drops is vital to playing your late-game spells and recasting your commander. From utility lands to cycling lands, there’s always going to be a use for extra mana. Verhey says to have at least 39-40 lands in your decks.
Up next is building your deck with a mana-efficient curve. While everyone wants to have their splashy bombs at end-game scenarios, making sure you have plenty to play in the early and middle stages of the game is more important. Mana efficiency allows you to interact throughout the game, play impactful spells while developing your mana, and eventually have turns where you play two, three, or even more spells.
Lastly, every commander deck needs to have access to some number of artifact, enchantment, and graveyard removal or interaction. One doesn’t have to go overboard on this kind of effect, but Verhey reminds everyone that in almost every commander pod there will be at least one player doing one of these types of strategies. You get to be the hero at the table for having an answer, or better yet, win the match when the game gets to two players and you aren’t cold to graveyard recursion or artifact engines.