⚡ In a nutshell
You build a casual Commander deck using a fixed template: ±38 lands, 10–12 ramp, 12 card advantage, 10–12 removal, and 3–6 board wipes — the rest are your "plan" cards. Start by choosing your commander, determine how your deck wins, fill in the foundations, and test it by goldfishing. This guide contains the complete step-by-step plan, including example cards and the math behind it.
In my Commander guide, I promised to go deeper into deckbuilding — and here it is. Playing a precon is fun, but building a deck from scratch is where Commander truly becomes yours.
Important up front: this guide assumes casual Commander — the friendly games that last eight turns or longer, in which you build a game together. So, no high-power cEDH decks (bracket 4 or 5) that are over within five turns. We are building a deck that plays well at a normal table.
At first, 100 cards seems overwhelming, but with a fixed step-by-step plan and a clear distribution, it is surprisingly manageable. Let me walk you through it.
This is what a complete deck looks like
Before we go into depth: this is what you are working towards. One hundred cards, divided into seven roles.
THE TEMPLATE — 100 CARDS
If you add everything up, you exceed 100. That is correct — many cards fulfill two roles at once.
💡 Where this comes from: this template is based on the well-known deckbuilding template by The Command Zone, which has become the standard in the Commander community. I have adjusted the distribution slightly in a few places based on personal experience and how the format has developed in recent years. Where I deviate, I explain why.
Step 1 – Choose your commander
In Commander, you don't start with individual cards, but with your commander. They determine your colors and the direction of your deck. The best approach for beginners is top-down building: choose a commander that appeals to you, see what they like to do, and build your deck around that plan.
Not sure which direction you want to take? Then it helps to first look at the available playstyles — that is covered in MTG deck archetypes explained.
Step 2 – Determine your plan
Before you collect cards, answer one question: how does this deck win? Do you defeat your opponents with one big attack, an army of tokens, a combo, or by slowly exhausting them?
That plan is your compass — every card you add must support it. Without a plan, it becomes a collection of loose "good" cards that don't work together.
💡 Ensure two or three ways to win. One win condition is too fragile: if that card is removed, you are left with a deck that stays alive but can no longer finish the game. Two or three routes make your deck significantly more robust without becoming unfocused.
Step 3 – The five foundations of every deck
Before you start the fun work, every Commander deck needs five categories to keep the engine running. Here they are.
1. Lands — 37 to 38
Your mana base is the most important category of your entire deck, and simultaneously the least exciting. Personally, I average 37 or 38 lands — often including 2 or 3 MDFCs (more on that soon).
Why so many? Because too few lands is disastrous. Nothing is more annoying than a hand full of strong cards you cannot play because you missed your land drops. It has happened to me more often than I care to admit: you add just a few too few lands, you don't draw any, and you spend the whole game trailing behind while the rest of the table does its thing.
The numbers show exactly what happens when you cut back:
| Number of lands | 2+ lands in opening hand | 3+ lands | Chance of an unplayable hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 68.6% | 35.8% | 31.4% |
| 34 | 76.5% | 45.3% | 23.5% |
| 36 | 79.9% | 50.1% | 20.1% |
| 38 | 82.9% | 54.8% | 17.1% |
Look at that last column. With 30 lands, nearly one in three opening hands is unplayable; with 38, only one in six. That is almost a halving, and it only costs you cards you weren't going to play anyway.
You get one free mulligan (in some playgroups more) — but if you play too few lands, you are always the one having to mulligan. Especially if you are just starting with Commander: just make sure you have at least 37 lands. Only if you add MDFCs or play a very low curve can that number be slightly lower. Remember: if your deck isn't working well, it is usually because you are playing too few lands.
💡 What is an MDFC? An MDFC (Modal Double-Faced Card) is a double-sided card where you choose one side to play. Often, one side is a spell and the other is a land — think of Shatterskull Smashing or Turntimber Symbiosis. Such a card is a flexible "land-or-spell": if you need a land, you play the land side; if you have plenty of mana, you play the spell. That is why 2–3 MDFCs count perfectly fine toward your land total.
2. Ramp — 10 to 12
Ramp is anything that gives you more mana than your normal one-land-per-turn. Think of mana dorks like Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves, mana rocks like Sol Ring, or land-ramp like Rampant Growth and Cultivate. Green is by far the color with the most (and best) ramp.
Note the difference with a one-time mana burst: Dark Ritual gives you that momentary extra mana, but it is NOT ramp — after that turn, it's gone. True ramp stays on the battlefield and lets you do more in your following turns.
With 10 to 12 ramp cards, you are in good shape:
chance of 1+ ramp in your opening hand
chance of 1+ ramp by turn 2
You also use ramp to get your commander on the table early. Most ramp costs 2 or 3 mana, and you prefer to play that on curve — for example, a mana rock on turn 2, so you can drop a 4+ mana commander on turn 3.
One important warning: ramp only works if you keep hitting your land drops. If you miss a land, that ramp card serves no purpose and even costs you a card — yet another reason why your lands are so important. And do you have a commander with a low mana cost? Then you can get away with slightly less ramp.
3. Card advantage — 12
Card advantage are cards that start as one card but give you access to more than one. This is different from card selection: a cantrip that lets you draw one card only replaces itself (1-for-1) — useful for keeping your deck running smoothly, but it is not true card advantage.
Two classic examples: Phyrexian Arena and Sylvan Library — cards that provide you with extra cards every turn. Aim for about 12 pieces and do not skimp here: without card draw, you will soon run out of options, and it is actually quite nice to have card draw in your opening hand.
Preferably, look for repeatable draw: an enchantment that provides a card every turn is worth much more in the long run than a one-time "draw three cards." Casual games take a long time, and that is exactly where such engines pay off.
(Self-mill can, by the way, also count as card advantage, but only if you have a commander or combo cards that can play cards from your graveyard — otherwise, you are just throwing them away.)
4. Targeted disruption (removal) — 10 to 12
Removal is how you handle your opponents' threats: Swords to Plowshares, bounce cards like Unsummon, counterspells, or even land removal like Wasteland. Aim for about 10 to 12 pieces.
Why so important? Because Commander without interaction turns into a sort of multiplayer solitaire: everyone does their own thing, and there is hardly any strategy. By disrupting your opponents' plans — their win conditions, their most important cards — you create the political, interactive game that makes casual Commander so fun. So, learn to recognize what an opponent is planning, and be ready to intervene.
💡 Play a portion at instant speed. Removal that you can only play during your own turn often arrives too late — especially against combos that go off in the middle of someone else's turn. Ensure at least three to five of your answers are instants. Why that makes such a big difference is something I explain in the stack & priority explained.
5. Mass disruption (board wipes) — 3 to 6
Sometimes a opponent's (or the whole table's) board gets so full that you have to clear it in one go. For that, you have board wipes: cards like Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict, or the extremely popular Cyclonic Rift (which, conversely, returns the board to hand).
Here I consciously deviate from the classic advice. In the past, five or six was standard, but the format has become faster and more crowded, and there is a good reason to play fewer: a board wipe sets YOU back just as hard as the rest of the table. You clear the board, and then everyone — including you — has to start over. Often, you are better off with a targeted answer to that one specific problem.
My guideline:
- 3 to 4 if your deck builds its own board (creatures, tokens, enchantments). You don't want to destroy your own plan.
- 5 to 6 if you are playing a controlling deck that doesn't have much on the table, or conversely, benefits from deaths — think of an aristocrats deck with Blood Artist effects.
Good to know: "disruption" is broader than just destroying creatures. Bojuka Bog clears an opponent's graveyard (handy against graveyard decks), Thalia, Heretic Cathar forces all your opponents' permanents to enter tapped (slows everyone down), goad effects force creatures to attack elsewhere, and Teferi's Protection gets YOU out of the line of fire for a moment. Each one is a tool to keep a grip on the game.
The template in table form
| Category | Amount | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | 1 | Your choice — the heart of your plan |
| Lands | 37–38 | Basics + 2-3 MDFCs like Shatterskull Smashing |
| Ramp | 10–12 | Sol Ring, Cultivate, Birds of Paradise |
| Card advantage | 12 | Phyrexian Arena, Sylvan Library |
| Removal | 10–12 | Swords to Plowshares, counterspells |
| Board wipes | 3–6 | Wrath of God, Cyclonic Rift |
| Plan cards | ±30 | Enablers, payoffs & enhancers — see step 4 |
If you add up the target numbers, you will end up with more than 100 cards — and that is exactly the point. A great many cards fulfill multiple roles simultaneously. An MDFC counts as a land and as a spell. A creature that destroys something upon entering the battlefield counts as a creature and as removal. A creature that lets you draw a card is also card advantage. That overlap is no coincidence — it is exactly what efficient decks run on.
Step 4 – The plan cards: this is where the fun starts
After the five foundations, about 30 cards remain: your plan cards. This is the heart of your deck — the cards that make your specific strategy happen. They roughly fall into three types:
The cards that make your plan possible. If you are building an enchantment deck, those are your enchantments. If you are playing aristocrats, they are your sacrifice outlets. Within your plan cards, this is the most important group: without enablers, your engine won't run.
The reward for executing your plan, including your win conditions. If you play many creatures, something like Craterhoof Behemoth is your payoff: one card that suddenly makes your army lethal.
Cards that make your plan even stronger, such as Doubling Season which doubles your tokens and counters. Be careful with this, though: enhancers are often powerful, but they require synergy on the board. Too many of them and you will frequently have dead cards in your hand.
Your commander usually belongs in this plan too — they are often an enabler or a payoff themselves, and you build your entire deck around them.
Step 5 – The mana curve (don't underestimate this)
The mana curve is arguably the most important and most underestimated component. The idea: you want to be able to play something every turn, preferably on curve. A 2-mana card on turn 2 (for example, a mana rock), so that you have four mana on turn 3 and can play two 2-drops or one 4-drop. Because of this, you often play 3-drops slightly less than 2-drops.
A good starting point for your ~62 non-land cards:
mana costs
These are guidelines, not laws — every deck and every playgroup is different. But as a starting point, this distribution works excellently. Aim for an average mana value around 3: if it’s much higher, you will be left watching helplessly in the first few turns.
Adjust the template to your archetype
The template above is an average, and averages don't fit anyone exactly. If you are playing a specific strategy, adjust as follows:
| Playing... | Then adjust |
|---|---|
| Control — reacting, draining, winning late | More removal (12–15) and more board wipes (5–7), fewer plan cards |
| Aggro — attacking quickly, applying early pressure | Less removal (5–6), fewer lands (34–36), lower curve |
| Combo — two or three cards that win together | More card draw (10–12) and protection (4–6), at the expense of removal |
| Tokens or go-wide | Fewer board wipes (2–3), because you will destroy your own board |
| Aristocrats — profiting from deaths | Actually more board wipes (5–7), which work for you rather than against you |
Step 6 – Testing, goldfishing, and tweaking
Your first version is never your last. Before you play against anyone at all, you can goldfish your deck: this means playing your deck by yourself, without an opponent (as if you are playing against a goldfish), purely to see how your turns run, if your curve is correct, and if you draw enough lands. You can also just mulligan your opening hand a few times to feel if your deck opens up nicely.
This can be done online on Moxfield or Archidekt (look at the stats or playtest button). Enter your deck and you will immediately see statistics, such as the percentage chance of having a land in your opening hand. If you want to test with your playgroup without physically owning the cards, that is also possible — how to do so is in playing Commander online compared.
What if your deck doesn't run well?
Almost every problem has a recognizable cause. Here is my checklist:
| What you notice | What is likely going on |
|---|---|
| Often stuck without mana | Too few lands or too little ramp. Add lands before trying anything else. |
| Hand is empty quickly | Too little card advantage. Look for repeatable draw, not one-off effects. |
| Stuck with expensive cards you can't play | Your curve is too high. Cut a few 5- and 6-drops for 2-drops. |
| Can't do anything against what others play | Too little removal, or removal that only works at sorcery speed. |
| Building up but never finishing | Too few payoffs. Add one or two extra win conditions. |
| Many dead cards in your hand | Too many enhancers. Replace a few with enablers. |
| Your own board wipes hurt you the most | You are playing too many for this type of deck. Back down to 3. |
And most importantly, through all the numbers: you should primarily have fun while playing your deck. Keep your target bracket in mind (see the Commander guide), so your deck remains fun to play against at a casual table. How to align that beforehand is in the unwritten rules of the table.
Prefer to see how someone else does it first?
The Command Zone explains their deck-building template in this video. It is the source from which the entire idea of categories originated, and it is an excellent addition to this guide:
💡 Tip from Omèr: you are going to shuffle a self-built deck endlessly. Sleeve it from day one — nothing is a shame like a creased favorite. View the card sleeves →
Prefer a flying start?
Building from scratch is fun, but not the only path. Many players start with a precon and continue building from there — then you immediately have a working deck and a foundation to upgrade. Which precons are best to start with, I have listed in the top 15 best Commander precons for beginners.
Prefer to hit the table right away?
Start with a ready-to-use Commander deck and rebuild it at your own pace.
Questions about your first deck, or want to spar about a commander or a distribution? Feel free to send me a message — Commander is my favorite format, so this makes me happy.
Read also:
- MTG Formats Explained: Commander (EDH) — the basics of the format
- All MTG deck archetypes explained
- The top 15 best Commander precons for beginners
- The best MTG resources — all tools at a glance
Written by Omèr Cremers
Owner of SpellArmory, social worker, and full-time father. Fanatical MTG player and collector from Maastricht — Commander is my favorite format. Questions about which product suits you? Feel free to send me a message.