• Red

    Mana Source:

    Mountains

  • Green

    Mana Source:

    Forests

  • Blue

    Mana Source:

    Island

  • White

    Mana Source:

    Plains

  • Black

    Mana Source:

    Swamps

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Understanding Magic: The Gathering's Six Colors in Commander Deck Building

Magic: The Gathering’s Commander format offers endless possibilities, and one of the most exciting aspects is choosing which colors (or colorless strategy) to base your deck around. Each of Magic’s six categories—White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, and Colorless—represents a unique philosophy, playstyle, and strategy. Whether you're drawn to powerful creatures, tricky spells, or fast-paced aggression, there’s a color for you in Commander. This guide will walk you through each color’s strengths and strategies, helping you make the best choice for your Commander deck.

Mono Red Commander Decks

Red – Chaos, Fire, Aggression

Philosophy: Red is the color of passion, chaos, and aggression. In Commander, Red players thrive on fast creatures, direct damage, and explosive plays that force opponents to react quickly. If you love aggressive, fast-paced games, Red is the color for you.

How Red Plays in Commander:

  • Burn Spells: Red’s burn spells like Lightning Bolt and Chandra, Torch of Defiance are fantastic in Commander for dealing direct damage to creatures and opponents. These spells help you clear blockers or finish off opponents in a multiplayer setting.
  • Fast Creatures: Red has some of the fastest creatures in Commander, like Goblin Instigator and Feldon of the Third Path, who can get aggressive early in the game, putting pressure on your opponents.
  • Aggressive Play: Red loves to push the tempo, often leading the charge with high-damage creatures that attack early and often. In Commander, it’s crucial to pressure multiple opponents before they can set up their strategies.

Key Strategies in Commander:

  • Direct Damage to clear blockers or reduce opponents’ life totals.
  • Aggressive Creatures that attack early and often to maintain pressure.
  • Tempo to force your opponents to react to your relentless aggression.

Ideal for Players Who:

Prefer a fast-paced, aggressive game.

Enjoy taking the fight to your opponents and keeping them on the defensive.

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Mono Green Commander Decks

Green – Nature, Growth, Strength

Philosophy: Green is the color of nature, growth, and raw physical power. Green excels in ramping up resources and playing huge, powerful creatures that dominate the battlefield. If you like to overpower your opponents through sheer strength, Green is your color.

How Green Plays in Commander:

  • Mana Ramp: Green is unparalleled at ramping mana in Commander, with cards like Sylvan Library and Gilded Lotus that accelerate your deck’s progression and allow you to cast your big creatures and spells ahead of your opponents.
  • Big Creatures: Green is known for its giant creatures like Terra Stomper, which can overwhelm opponents in multiplayer games. These creatures are often hard to deal with and can finish the game quickly.
  • Combat Dominance: Green decks are filled with creatures that can trample over smaller blockers, making them difficult to stop. Creatures like Ghor-Clan Rampager can smash through defenses and cause significant damage.

Key Strategies in Commander:

  • Mana Ramp to cast your massive creatures faster than your opponents.
  • Big Creatures that dominate the battlefield with size and power.
  • Trample to push damage through blockers and deal massive blows.

Ideal for Players Who:

  • Enjoy straightforward, aggressive strategies.
  • Like to overpower opponents with the size and power of creatures and resources.
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Mono Blue

Blue – Knowledge, Manipulation, Counterplay

Philosophy: Blue is the color of intellect, manipulation, and control. In Commander, Blue players thrive on countering their opponents' strategies, drawing more cards, and using their superior knowledge to manipulate the flow of the game. Blue is great for those who enjoy thinking multiple moves ahead and responding to threats with precision.

How Blue Plays in Commander:

  • Control and Counter: Blue's counterspells—like Counterspell and Mana Drain—are essential in Commander, where players often try to play big spells. These countermeasures help you control the game and protect your strategy.
  • Card Advantage: Commander decks are large, and Blue excels at maintaining card advantage through card draw spells like Ancestral Recall and Fact or Fiction. This ensures you always have the right answer when you need it.
  • Flying Creatures: Blue often uses evasive creatures, like Stormwing Entity or Aarakocra Sneak, that can bypass most defenses and attack your opponents directly in Commander’s multiplayer setting.

Key Strategies in Commander:

  • Counterspells to protect your strategy and disrupt your opponents.
  • Card Draw to maintain a full hand and increase your chances of drawing your key pieces.
  • Flying Creatures to bypass blockers and pressure opponents.

Ideal for Players Who:

  • Enjoy controlling the pace of the game and responding to threats.
  • Want to build a deck with lots of flexibility and reactive strategies.
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Mono White Commander Decks

White – Order, Justice, Protection

Philosophy: White is the color of order, justice, and protection. In Commander, White excels at creating a stable and controlled environment through powerful defensive tactics, lifegain, and synergy-based strategies. White decks often focus on creating strong boards with resilient creatures and a lot of synergy, making it a great choice for those who enjoy a more methodical approach to the game.

How White Plays in Commander:

  • Defensive Strength: White’s lifegain strategies can be invaluable in Commander, where multiplayer dynamics can make keeping your life total high critical. Cards like Aetherflux Reservoir turn lifegain into a win condition, helping you survive longer and potentially finishing games with devastating effects.
  • Board Control: White's removal and protective spells like Swords to Plowshares and Wrath of God help you manage threats, giving you time to set up your strategy. Board wipes are especially useful in the multiplayer setting of Commander, allowing you to reset the game when needed.
  • Synergy: Many White cards focus on creating synergy with other creatures or gaining life, leading to powerful combos.

Key Strategies in Commander:

  • Lifegain to outlast your opponents in longer games.
  • Creature Creation by deploying multiple creatures to swarm your opponents.
  • Board Wipes to clear the field and re-establish control, particularly in a multiplayer game.

Ideal for Players Who:

  • Enjoy a slower, more strategic game with powerful defenses.
  • Want to build synergies that create strong, interconnected boards of creatures and spells.
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Mono Black

Black – Power, Death, Sacrifice

Philosophy: Black is the color of power, death, and ambition. In Commander, Black decks embrace high-risk, high-reward strategies by sacrificing creatures or life to gain a strategic advantage. Black has some of the best removal and graveyard recursion, allowing it to manipulate the battlefield and outlast opponents.

How Black Plays in Commander:

  • Graveyard Synergy: Black decks in Commander often rely on the graveyard, bringing back creatures like Revel in Riches or Tainted Adversary to gain additional power. Black’s graveyard recursion spells like Reanimate allow you to bring back key creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield.
  • Sacrifice for Power: Black decks often sacrifice creatures or life to power up spells or summon more powerful creatures. Bloodghast and Liliana, Dreadhorde General benefit from sacrificing resources to build a bigger advantage.
  • Powerful Removal: Black’s ability to destroy creatures or other permanents, like with Demonic Tutor and Doom Blade, ensures that you can clear the board of obstacles and control the game.

Key Strategies in Commander:

  • Graveyard Manipulation to bring back creatures for additional value.
  • Life as a Resource to sacrifice life or creatures for greater power.
  • Removal to clear the way for your strategy.

Ideal for Players Who:

  • Enjoy high-risk, high-reward gameplay.
  • Like to control the battlefield through destruction and manipulation.
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Colorless

Colorless – Artifice, Precision, Power

Philosophy: Colorless is a unique strategy in Commander that embraces the power of artifacts and precision. It bypasses the color limitations of traditional decks and focuses on raw power, flexibility, and efficiency. Colorless is perfect for players who want to think outside the box and use non-traditional strategies.

How Colorless Plays in Commander:

  • Artifacts and Synergy: Colorless decks rely heavily on artifacts for synergies and ramp. Cards like Chromatic Lantern and Mox Opal provide mana acceleration, while cards like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger dominate the board.
  • Powerful Creatures: Colorless includes some of the largest creatures in the game, like Eldrazi, which are perfect for taking over a Commander game with their immense power.
  • Bypassing Color Limitations: Being colorless allows you to play without the usual restrictions, making your deck more versatile and adaptable to any situation.

Key Strategies in Commander:

  • Artifact Synergy to maximize the power of artifacts and ramp.
  • Big Creatures to dominate with some of the largest creatures in Magic.
  • Mana Acceleration to power out massive threats ahead of schedule.

Ideal for Players Who:

  • Want to play outside the typical color wheel and build unique, artifact-based decks.
  • Appreciate flexibility and efficiency in gameplay.
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Choose Yours!

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Combine The Colors!

See all decks with different color combinations.

Multicolor Decks!