Five Great Monocolor cEDH Decks
That's right: we're going to be taking a close look at some different single-color competitive Commander decks. How's this for a change of pace?
As somebody who's always looking for new and different things to write about, I thought why not check in with the best (subject to personal interpretation) available for mono-color? Since I've historically played a three-color deck in Temur Pirates (shhhh I swapped to Najeela, the Blade-Blossom recently), I'm always interested in seeing how things are going in the low-color space of the format.
It's obvious that higher-color decks are going to be, on average, much more powerful than their alternatives, but how close can they get? It's also interesting looking at them before Modern Horizons 3, as I'm of the opinion that it's low-color decks that usually benefit the most from high-power sets. Why? Higher power level equals more playables, which many low-color decks struggle to hit the requisite number of. Even with that caveat, I was more impressed with some of these decks than I initially thought I would be.
I selected the Commander and deck I was most impressed with for each of Magic's foundational colors and have written up my analysis and thoughts below. Let's get into it!
White: Heliod, Sun-Crowned
When I looked at the white commanders, I knew there was still only one option for me to talk about as the best. Heliod, Sun-Crowned elevates himself as a commander above the rest by being part of a two-part combo. Combined with a Walking Ballista with two +1/+1 counters and two mana, you'll be able to win the game on the spot, machine-gunning down all of your opponents' life totals with a life-linking construct.
Heliod gets to take advantage not only of this combo, but of powerful Stax effects, such as Drannith Magistrate, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Blind Obedience, to help buy time to assemble the combo. These decks are also capable of some mild beatdown thanks to his +1/+1-counter-placing, high creature count, and a decent number of fliers. I know I'd be terrified of a Serra Ascendant swinging at me every turn AND getting bigger in the process.
In that vein, thanks to the huge number of lower-cost creatures, Heliod is a sneaky good Aether Vial deck, a card that I always have wondered if it should be played more widely. Getting to add a counter only once every four turns is quite a bit worse in the tempo of a game than getting to add one every other turn, though.
Where Heliod falls flat (and where, spoiler, most of these decks fall flat) is that its card quality options fall off quickly past a point. I mean, we're playing Paladin Class here, something that never really even saw constructed play. Another major weakness is a lack of relevant tutors to get your combo piece into hand, with the best obviously being Enlightened Tutor. If only white had held onto the ability to tutor up artifacts for just a bit longer. Additionally, Heliod's ONLY purpose is to be part of a combo, not giving much other value beyond occasional power and toughness pumping. However, this deck is strong enough to win its fair share of games, all thanks to being able to win with said combo.
Blue: Urza, Lord High Artificer
I'll be straight with you here: mono-blue doesn't have a lot of options as far as commanders go. What are we gonna do, kill people with a lot of Talrand birds? As a result, I ended up here, with Urza, Lord High Artificer. I think it's a pretty defensible choice, thanks to both his Tolarian Academy-level mana production and also infinite mana outlet. I also have specifically selected an Urza list to highlight that it leaves most of the Stax rocks at home and instead packs a lot of interaction and proactivity.
The easiest way to win is through creating infinite mana, usually with Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith, together with a cost-reducer, such as Power Artifact or recently printed Forensic Gadgeteer, and then drawing/casting your whole library through Urza's ability. Obviously from this point, it's trivial to win the game, with the most common path being to mill your opponents out with Codex Shredder loops.
Urza does have a lot going in his favor in comparison to other mono-colored decks, notably getting to actually play counterspells and Rhystic Study. Past that, though, the wins are convoluted, and even though Urza produces a lot of mana, without something like that Rhystic Study in play, you'll quickly have nothing to spend it on. A solid middle-of-the-pack option for cEDH overall in my opinion, and one of the better ones on this list, but still not all that awesome. I'd still sleeve it up for some fun, though! You can read an incredibly extensive breakdown on Urza, Lord High Artificer right here.
Black: Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
I know: it's not K'rrik. However, I think Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire is a super slept-on commander that deserves more love for mono-black, especially as K'rrik proves itself to be more and more fragile as interaction gets better. Varragoth is somehow even more turbo in intentions that his other black card counterpart. The plan is very simple: turn one, cast your Commander, turn two, tutor for Ad Nauseam and cast it. This is a pretty solid gameplan, but it then does rely on killing your opponents by discarding a ton of cards to Sickening Dreams, mitigating the damage done to yourself through the likes of Glacial Chasm or Dark Sphere. You also have to be able to accrue enough mana and other tutors to ensure you can finish your gameplan, something that in my experience is pretty hard without Dockside Extortionist to fill in the cracks. It isn't the greatest deck, nor would I even call it super powerful. However, I think trying to cast Ad Naus as quickly as possible in a black deck is a more interesting and consistent prospect than doing... whatever it is that K'rrik does (kidding, I totally know how it works!). There's not much more to say beyond that this deck obviously is strange and I do wish it could find a more effective win con than its current one.
Red: Magda, Brazen Outlaw
Nobody look now, but Magda has a 23% conversion rate top Top 16 in the last year (granted, with a bit under 100 entries). It's also is a deck that's receiving a constant drip of strong role-player cards, with recent additions being Roaming Throne, Bottle-Cap Blast, Return the Favor, and Molten Duplication. Dwarves are also not a super uncommon creature type, meaning that this deck will get passive creature suite upgrades as well, the most recent being Magda, the Hoardmaster. Heck, since you need a lot of Treasures to win, every red Treasure-producing card is automatically in contention and can raise the floor on the deck.
Magda is always a deck that's threatening to win games thanks to its ability to produce a ton of mana and tutor up its combo pieces directly. Unlike some of the other decks on this list, your commander gets to be both a value piece (producing mana in spades) while also being your win condition (tutors all of your pieces directly into play through Treasure sacrificing). This tutor ability also enables the deck to play expensive utility artifacts that can pull you through games, like Portal to Phyrexia, God-Pharaoh's Statue, and the new Nexus of Becoming.
Of all of the single-color decks, this one is the one that impresses me the most. Your commander gives you a win and also generates the most important currency in the format as a side effect. Of course, she doesn't draw cards, sometimes leaving you up high and dry, but that's worth the risk. If you like the look of Magda, you can learn more about the deck from Sam Black here on Commander's Herald.
Green: Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Old reliable is here to stay. Yisan, being a tutor in the command zone, will be hard to ever supplant with other green options, unless you're interested in the likes of true elfball in Ezuri, Renegade Leader. Through the accumulation of verse counters, you can tutor up adaptive answers or threats to best handle the situation you're currently in. Of course, besides the obvious caveat I've gone through several times now, green's card quality runs out pretty quickly.
Green does have pretty great creatures, through and through, though. Whether you're tutoring up a Collector Ouphe to stop your opponents' artifact shenanigans or finally getting your Ashaya, Soul of the Wild to win the game through one of several convoluted infinite mana combos, Yisan can handle different scenarios in cEDH games much more than the average mono-color deck while still also being able to tutor up its win-cons. Its main weakness, beyond average card quality, is that Yisan can just be... slow. If you're missing your Untap Creature options, being able to tutor up only one creature per turn, which definitely doesn't cut it at cEDH tables anymore.
I guess this sums up as a real feast or famine deck, one that will either quickly win through a tutor chain or be stuck with little to nothing to do all game long. If that's an experience you're in for, give Yisan a shot for your best Green deck prospects! That was a bit harsh, sorry.
Go Forth & Mono-Color
There you have it: a cEDH deck and commander for every single color! Some are certainly more impressive than others, with Magda standing out above the rest for pretty obvious reasons. I personally want to try to sleeve each of them up to take to my Monday night cEDH games for a change of pace. Sure, I can take out Najeela every time, but eventually what becomes the fun of that? If you're looking to mix up your games sometime too, give some of these a try!
