Commander 2016: Reprints and Ranking the Decks
November in the Magic world means it's time for the release of another set of Commander decks, and do we have some good ones this time around! This year's theme is four-color decks, which means not only a unique take on generals, thanks to the partner mechanic, but 55 new cards and a ton of powerful (and expensive) casual reprints. When we look back on 2016, probably the biggest takeaway will be that it was the year that Wizards finally pulled out all the stops as far as reprintings are concerned. While prices are certain to decline, the value for all of the Commander 2016 decks is really off the charts—significantly higher than we've seen in past releases. Better yet, Commander 2016 comes on the heels of Conspiracy 2, which is likely the greatest reprint set to date.
In the past, Wizards had nibbled around the edges of the reprint problem, either printing expensive cards in limited quantities or cheap cards en masse, but with Commander 2016 (as with Conspiracy 2), we see the rare combination of valuable cards (and lots of them) in a huge-supply product. While there are very few super-expensive cards, nearly all of the Commander 2016 decks are stuffed full of casual staples in the $3–$8 range, to the point where the decks currently contain way more value than the MSRP. This doesn't mean you should buy the decks to profit—that's unlikely to work, since Wizards upped the supply of Commander decks after the True-Name Nemesis debacle—but it does mean that a lot of expensive, powerful, and fun casual cards are going to get cheaper—way, way cheaper.
As such, today we are going to do two things. First, we are going to talk a little bit about the big picture of Commander 2016 and what it means to the prices of cards moving forward. Then, we are going to rank the five Commander 2016 decks based on nine different criteria to try to figure out which deck is best! Let's start by taking a meta-perspective of the Commander decks and how they impact card prices.
The Big Picture
At this point, with several Commander releases behind us, we have a pretty good idea of how the prices of these decks work. Here, it's important to remember just how much supply there is of Commander decks. I was in my local big-box store this past week, and there were still Commander 2015 decks for sale; as of a few months ago, there were Commander 2014 decks as well (often at a discount). As a result, Commander releases are more similar to Standard-legal set releases than to other supplemental products, in that it's pretty much impossible for a Commander deck to have a positive expected value over the long term. If the price of the cards in the deck is ever higher than the deck itself, people will simply buy the decks to open and sell the singles for a profit.
Right now, of the five Commander 2016 decks, two are worth about $100 at TCG mid, while the other three are worth between $130 and $140. Of course, the set was just spoiled and most people can't get TCG mid for their cards, so these prices don't mean you can buy a Commander 2015 deck for $40 and flip it for 100% or even 200% profit. On the other hand, TCG mid prices allow for an apples-to-apples comparison to Commander decks from the past.
Looking back at the Commander 2015 decks, right now the average value of cards found in these decks is between $50 and $60. Meanwhile, if we go back another year to Commander 2014, the value rises slightly to somewhere between $60 and $80, depending on the specific deck. What this means is that, to get in line with past Commander releases, the value of the cards included in Commander 2016 needs to be at the very least cut in half, and some decks will lose closer to 70% of their value. Of course, not all cards will lose value equally—some cards will lose more than others—so let's talk about the broad categories of cards found in Commander decks (and how each group is impacted by reprintings).
New Cards
The sad truth about new cards from Commander decks is that they are very rarely worth much of anything. Nearly all of the new rares and mythics from past Commander releases have ended up at or close to bulk prices, and there is little reason to expect the exciting new cards from Commander 2016 to behave differently. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule. First, if a card becomes Legacy playable, all bets are off. We've seen cards like True-Name Nemesis and Containment Priest from past Commander sets maintain significant value, but at first glance, it doesn't seem like there are any Legacy standouts hiding in Commander 2016, so this exception probably won't be relevant to our discussion. The second exception to the rule is legitimate Commander staples. While this occasionally can include a general (for instance, Meren of Clan Nel Toth), this most often means colorless cards that can go inro any Commander deck. From past releases, cards like Command Tower, Command Beacon, and Blade of Selves have been among the most expensive in the set. When we combine this trend with the fact that new cards often start out overpriced during presales, I expect that this group of cards will see a meaningful drop in price as Commander 2016 is opened.
Tournament Reprints
As odd as it sounds, tournament-focused reprints from the Commander series often fare worse than casual reprints in terms of value. In fact, very popular casual / Commander cards are often relatively unaffected by a Commander reprinting, while more spiky-centric cards lose a ton of value. While there aren't a ton of tournament reprints in Commander 2016, I expect that we'll see cards like Baleful Strix and Scavenging Ooze lose about half of their value thanks to their reprinting.
Casual Reprints
Casual / Commander reprints often fare better than tournament-focused reprints when it comes to reprintings in Commander decks. The exact reason for this isn't 100% clear, but my theory is that when a card like Solemn Simulacrum, Sol Ring, or Cyclonic Rift gets reprinted, the very act of reprinting increases the demand for the card (apparently enough to outweigh the increase in supply). It's easy to forget just how many Magic players are relatively new to the game (and likely even a larger percentage of casual players, since many players start playing casually before moving on to more competitive play). Furthermore, unlike tournament players who thrive on knowledge of the metagame (and are likely to know what cards see play in each format), casual Magic play is a weird patchwork of decks and cards. As a result, it's very possible that a meaningful number of casual players simply don't know about cards like Burgeoning until they see the cards spoiled for Conspiracy 2 or Commander 2016. As such, this group of players discovering reprinted cards for the first time seems to increase demand, to the point that many popular casual / Commander cards don't lose significant value at reprinting. Regardless of the reason, the point of all this is that casual staples are likely to lose less value over the next couple of months than the new cards and more tournament-focused reprints.
Taking this as a whole and considering that each Commander 2016 deck needs to lose somewhere between 50% and 70% of its value, my guess would be that we'll see a significant part of this value lost from new cards that are currently inflated by presale pricing. When it's all said and done, we'll probably have no more than three new cards that have any real value, with somewhere in the $5 range being the cap, and most of the new cards will be bulk. However, since the value of these decks is significantly above MSRP, just having the new cards decrease in price won't be enough, so we'll likely see a big decline from most of the reprints (especially those that aren't top 100 Commander cards) as well. Now that we've gotten the finance stuff out of the way, let's rank the Commander 2016 decks!
What Commander 2016 Deck Is Best?
So, here's the plan. I have nine different criteria, some of them objective (using rankings and other numbers), some of them subjective, and we are going to put the Commander 2016 decks through their paces and see which one comes out on top. As I mentioned before, all of these decks are good value, so all of them represent good buys if you want the cards. Plus, in the end, even though I'll be as objective as possible, these rankings represent my perspective, so don't let them be the only factor in deciding which deck to buy. Let's get to it! Since I'll be referring to the decks by name through the rankings, here are the Commander 2016 deck lists for reference.
Open Hostility
Entropic Uprising
Stalwart Unity
Breeding Lethality
Invent Superiority
#9: Most Value
| Deck | Retail Value |
| Stalwart Unity | $139 |
| Breeding Lethality | $138 |
| Invent Superiority | $133 |
| Entropic Uprising | $110 |
| Open Hostility | $104 |
We've already talked about how the high prices of Commander 2016 decks mean that the prices of the cards in these decks are going to drop a lot, but these retail prices are still very, very high compared to past releases. Considering MSRP is $35, every one of the Commander 2016 decks is stuffed full of value, but some are more stuffed than others. Basically, the top three are fairly interchangeable but worth a meaningful amount more than the bottom two, based mostly on the relative value of the reprints in each deck. Again, this doesn't matter so much over the long term because the supply of these decks will be massive, so things will even out, but for the short term, having $30 more in value is a reason to take Stalwart Unity, Breeding Lethality, or Invent Superiority over the other two decks.
#8: Best Four-Color Commanders
| Deck | Commander |
| Entropic Uprising | Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder |
| Stalwart Unity | Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis |
| Breed Lethality | Atraxa, Praetors' Voice |
| Invent Superiority | Breya, Etherium Shaper |
| Open Hostility | Saskia the Unyielding |
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder is pretty clearly the sweetest of the four-color commanders because cascade is such a powerful and fun mechanic. In a multiplayer game, it should be pretty easy to deal combat damage to an opponent (assuming everyone doesn't gang up on you to kill Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder (or you) as soon as it hits the battlefield), and then every spell you cast for the rest of the turn has cascade. In some ways, having this "until end of turn" ability makes Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder far scarier than the other two cascade commanders; Rashmi, Eternities Crafter only triggers once each turn, and Maelstrom Wanderer only triggers when its cast, so Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder can potentially generate way more value than either with a turn's worth of cascade triggers.
On the other end of our rankings, we have Saskia the Unyielding, who is is pretty much just a creature that attacks and blocks. Sure, she can double up your damage, but if that's your plan, there are a ton of options available. While I can imagine situations where the ability is amazing and allows you to kill two opponents out of nowhere and win the game, this still requires getting in combat damage, not just with a single creature, but with your entire team. I'm sure there are players out there who will love Saskia the Unyielding's aggressive nature, but for me, it's a turnoff that puts the Human Soldier at the bottom of our list.
#7: Best Land Value
| Deck | Land Value |
| Stalwart Unity | $26.17 |
| Open Hostility | $24.78 |
| Breed Lethality | $23.46 |
| Entropic Uprising | $13.16 |
| Invent Superiority | $11.78 |
When it comes to building a collection for Commander, two things stick out as most important: lands and colorless cards. Because of the color-restricted nature of the format (and also the flavor restrictions some deck builders put on themselves), colored staples are only good in a limited number of decks. Sure, you'll put Swords to Plowshares in just about any white deck, but unlike other formats, you can't simply splash Swords to Plowshares in your Simic deck because you want a better removal spell. As such, building up your collection with lands and artifacts is often the best way to go because these cards form the backbone of the format and are good in a wide variety of decks.
When it comes to judging the Commander 2016 decks by the value of their mana, we have a similar scenario to total value, with three decks in the top tier and then another two decks lagging far behind. More interestingly, the two decks at the top have very different distributions of value.
Stalwart Unity comes out on top because it contains two of the most valuable lands in the entirety of Commander 2016 in Forbidden Orchard and Homeward Path, and while both of these lands are playable in Commander, their high prices are as much a testament to their low supply as to their demand, which could mean they are in line for a significant price decreases. Open Hostility goes the other direction, with a a massive nine lands that are currently worth at least $1. While none of these lands are Forbidden Orchard, you get a couple of Magic 2010 buddy lands, a couple of pain lands, and a couple of tri-lands, most of which are a worth couple of dollars, and these cards have already been reprinted into the ground, so its unlikely that they drop too far based on the increased supply from Commander 2016. As such, as a new Commander player, I would probably value the lands from Open Hostility more than the lands from Stalwart Unity, even though the Stalwart Unity lands have slightly more value. However, in more objective terms, any of the top three decks represent fine land value.
#6: Best Partner Commanders
| Deck | Cards |
| Entropic Uprising | Thrasios, Triton Hero, Vial Smasher the Fierce, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix |
| Open Hostility | Tymna the Weaver, Tana, the Bloodsower, Ravos, Soultender |
| Invent Superiority | Akiri, Line-Slinger, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder |
| Breeding Lethality | Reyhan, Last of the Abzan, Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker, Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper |
| Stalwart Unity | Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist, Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa, Kraum, Ludevic's Opus |
When it comes to partner commanders, Entropic Uprising comes out on top for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix might be the next in a long line of broken cards with "Kruphix" in their name. While it might seem silly to call Courser of Kruphix broken, it shows up on the list of the 1,000 most played cards in Commander, as does Dictate of Kruphix. Meanwhile, Prophet of Kruphix was too good for the format and is now banned, while Kruphix, God of Horizons is the second most popular "God" commander behind Mogis, God of Slaughter. Where does Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix fit on the list? While it's likely not bannable good, I expect it will see a lot of play in the format—cards that can tap for multiple mana each turn tend to be good in Commander—and it may end up being one of the most played of the partner generals.
Otherwise, Vial Smasher the Fierce is oddly appealing, which is strange for me to say because I'm not usually a fan of aggressive commanders. However, I've played RB Goblins in the past, and even if Vial Smasher the Fierce isn't good enough to find its way into the command zone, I would certainly play it in the 99. Finally, Thrasios, Triton Hero isn't exciting, but it's not really a bust either, essentially being a repeatable (but expensive) Coiling Oracle when it's on the battlefield. As such, from top to bottom, Entropic Uprising has the most appealing set of partner commanders.
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Speaking of bottom, Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist has certainly drawn the community's wrath and is very likely the most disappointing of the partner commanders. Wizards does a good job of trying to meet players' expectations, and one expectation for Commander decks is that we see the continuation of characters, cards, and stories from the past. However, in Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist's case, it seems that Wizards forgot that the card (and how it plays) matters too. It's almost like everyone expecting more Gods in Amonkhet and then having Wizards print a cycle of cards for each color named "x, God of y," but instead of being powerful enchantment creatures, the Amonkhet Gods are functional color-shifted reprints of Squire. Sure, you technically met our expectations, but come on now.
Let me tell you a story. When I was a kid, I had this annoying friend who would constantly "bet me 10 bucks" on random events. If he lost the bet, he would then run up to me and start smashing me with his head, saying, "There's your 10 bucks." This is essentially the trick Wizards played on us with Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist. In fairness to Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist, he is far from the only reason that Stalwart Unity comes in at the bottom of the pack for partner commanders. Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa and Kraum, Ludevic's Opus are also less than exciting; they just don't have the weight of story and expectations dragging them down to Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist's level.
#5: Best Colorless Cards
- Invent Superiority: Blinkmoth Urn, Nevinyrral's Disk, Skullclamp, Shimmer Myr, Armory Automaton, Solemn Simulacrum, Soul of New Phyrexia, Commander's Sphere, Sol Ring.
- Open Hostility: Skullclamp, Lightning Greaves, Conqueror's Flail, Commander's Sphere, Sol Ring.
- Stalwart Unity: Howling Mine, Prismatic Geoscope, Venser's Journal, Keening Stone, Commander's Sphere, Sol Ring.
- Breed Lethality: Crystalline Crawler, Cauldron of Souls, Commander's Sphere, Sol Ring.
- Entropic Uprising: Chromatic Lantern, Boompile, Commander's Sphere, Sol Ring.
We talked before about how colorless cards rank alongside lands as the most important cards for building a Commander collection, and it's probably not a surprise that the artifact-themed Invent Superiority deck has a lot of good ones. Solemn Simulacrum, Nevinyrral's Disk, Skullclamp, and Soul of New Phyrexia join Commander's Sphere and Sol Ring on the list of the 1,000 most played cards in the format.
While the other colors are lacking the depth of good artifacts that we see in Invent Superiority, Wizards did a good job of including at least some colorless staples in each deck. Of course, this is made easier by the fact that each deck contains a Sol Ring (#1 card in Commander) and a Commander's Sphere (#3 card in Commander), but Open Hostility gets both Skullclamp and Lightning Greaves, which rank in the top 20 cards in Commander; Stalwart Unity gets Howling Mine; Breed Lethality gets Cauldron of Souls; and Entropic Uprising gets super-staple Chromatic Lantern.
#4: Best Out-of-the-Box Deck
- Breed Lethality
- Stalwart Unity
- Open Hostility
- Invent Superiority
- Entropic Uprising
The basic idea of this ranking is that, if we were going to do an episode of Commander Clash with Commander 2016 decks straight out of the box (i.e., no upgrades), which deck would I most want to play? For me, Breed Lethality sticks out every time I look over the deck list because just about every card is on theme. Whoever built the deck did an amazing job, and the deck looks like it would be a blast to play without any upgrades at all (while also being very upgradable, since +1/+1 counters have a ton of support in Commander).
Stalwart Unity is more of a personal preference than anything else, because I like group-hug-type decks that look to pillow fort, draw cards, and then hopefully win the game eventually. If you are a new player, I expect this deck to be a challenge, because the way it plays will be a lot different than the typical attack / block style of Standard. As a result, if you are looking for a simple deck to learn the Commander format, Open Hostility is probably the way to go, because it's the most straightforward of the Commander 2016 decks—you look to get aggressive and kill your opponents quickly.
Meanwhile, near the bottom of the rankings, we have Invent Superiority. While I love artifact-themed decks, this one strikes me as uninspired. You just sort of play artifacts and hope for the best. However, it's Entropic Uprising that comes in last in our rankings because the deck feels so scattered. This might just be because it's difficult to build a cascade-themed deck, especially without some of the expensive big-hitters like Rashmi, Eternities Crafter and Maelstrom Wanderer (which were likely too new and too expensive for Commander 2016), but the end result is a deck that is vaguely cascade-ish but not a good cascade deck by any stretch.
#3: Best Reprint Commanders
One of the things that makes Commander 2016 amazing is just how many commanders / generals you get in some of the decks. Not only do you get a handful of new onces (which can support a bunch of different color combinations thanks to the partner mechanic), but some of the decks contain some really powerful reprint commanders as well. As a result, while you are technically buying a four-color Commander preconstructed deck, you are actually getting a full four-color deck as well as the foundation to make everything from mono-color to two-color to three-color decks! Thanks to a handy breakdown of the top 200 most played commander on Metamox, we can actually quantify which Commander 2016 decks get the most reprinted general goodies!
| Deck | Card | Ranking |
| Entropic Uprising | Nath of the Gilt-Leaf | #108 |
| Open Hostility | Alesha, Who Smiles at Death | #13 |
| Open Hostility | Iroas, God of Victory | #113 |
| Breed Lethality | Ghave, Guru of Spores | #25 |
| Breed Lethality | Vorel of the Hull Clade | #100 |
| Stalwart Unity | Zedruu the Greathearted | #34 |
| Stalwart Unity | Selvala, Explorer Returned | #55 |
| Stalwart Unity | Edric, Spymaster of Trest | #71 |
| Stalwart Unity | Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs | not ranked |
| Invent Superiority | Sharuum the Hegemon | #41 |
| Invent Superiority | Sydri, Galvanic Genius | #63 |
| Invent Superiority | Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer | #161 |
| Invent Superiority | Hanna, Ship's Navigator | #173 |
| Invent Superiority | Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer | not ranked |
| Invent Superiority | Godo, Bandit Warlord | not ranked |
- Invent Superiority: Not only does Invent Superiority have good commanders (with Sharuum the Hegemon and Sydri, Galvanic Genius both coming in among the 75 most played in the format), but the depth is staggering. Apart from the new partner commanders and the four-color face card, you get two Esper commanders, a Boros commander, a UW Commander, and two mono-red commanders, all of which deal (at least, to some extent) with the artifact theme of the deck. As a result, in buying Invent Superiority, you have a ton of different possibilities for upgrading and changing your deck!
- Stalwart Unity: While not quite as deep as Invent Superiority, Stalwart Unity has a bunch of really good reprint commanders, with Zedruu the Greathearted, Selvala, Explorer Returned, and Edric, Spymaster of Trest all ranked among the top 75 most played in Commander.
- Open Hostility: Third and fourth place are pretty much a toss-up between Open Hostility and Breed Lethality. Each deck has two reprint commanders, with one ranking in the top 25 and one just outside the top 100, so it really comes down to personal preference. I decided to go with Open Hostility at number three because it has the single most played reprint commander in Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, which comes in at #13 overall.
- Breed Lethality: See above.
- Entropic Uprising: I can't help but feel Wizards dropped the ball a bit with the reprint legend in Entropic Uprising. First off, there is only one, while all of the other decks have at least two and, in some cases, a whole bunch. Second, the one they did put in the deck (Nath of the Gilt-Leaf) isn't even all that popular, coming in as the 108th most played in Commander.
#2: Best Non-Legndary New Cards
| Deck | Cards of Note |
| Breeding Lethality | Deepglow Skate, Duelist's Heritage, Manifold Insights, Sublime Exhalation, Crystalline Crawler. |
| Invent Superiority | Armory Automaton, Coastal Breach, Curse of Vengeance, Faerie Artisans, Magus of the Will. |
| Entropic Uprising | Boompile, Cruel Entertainment, Curtains' Call, Goblin Spymaster, Runehorn Hellkite |
| Open Hostility | Charging Cinderhorn, Conqueror's Flail, Divergent Transformations, Primeval Protector, Stonehoof Chieftain. |
| Stalwart Unity | Benefactor's Draught, Entrapment Maneuver, Prismatic Geoscope, Seeds of Renewal, Selfless Squire. |
The good news is that each deck has at least one new non-legendary card that I'm super excited about. Yawgmoth's Will is one of the most broken Magic cards ever printed, and even though Magus of the Will is slower and more expensive, having redundancy with the effect is super exciting. As for Runehorn Hellkite, I've never met a Wheel of Fortune I didn't like, and even though this one is pretty expensive at six mana, it also generates random value from the graveyard if you discard it to something like Survival of the Fittest and is uncounterable and instant speed. Divergent Transformations, meanwhile, is just odd but provides an interesting double-Polymorph effect if you can use it on your own creatures, especially tokens or creaturelands, so you can exert some control over which creatures you hit. Finally, Prismatic Geoscope is a super-powerful mana rock, and while entering the battlefield tapped is annoying, going from five mana one turn to 11 mana the next has the potential to do some broken things. However, despite all these sweet new cards, Breeding Lethality comes out on top of our list for one reason: it has Deepglow Skate.
Deepglow Skate might be my favorite new card from Commander 2016 because it's just oozing with combo potential. In Commander, it's pretty easy to make tons of mana, which means Deepglow Skate is essentially a one-shot (until you start using blink effects) one-permanent (until you add in Panharmonicon and Strionic Resonator) blue version of Doubling Season. While there are all kinds of crazy things you can do by doubling counters, maybe the most powerful is to ultimate planeswalkers the turn they come into play. For the low, low price of nine mana, you can cast a Tamiyo, Field Researcher followed by Deepglow Skate. and suddenly, you have a grip full of cards and all of your stuff is free.
In some ways, Deepglow Skate is like Nevinyrral's Disk—a card that expands the color pie. If you're looking to wrath the board in green or blue, Nevinyrral's Disk is probably your best option. On the other hand, blue / white are two of the best blink / bounce colors and also offer some of the most powerful planeswalkers, but in the past, if you wanted to take advantage of these synergies, you'd have to go green to play Doubling Season. With Deepglow Skate swimming around, you can play a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV deck and double up your counters on various Jaces, Elspeths, and Gideond, not to mention perhaps the best combo of them all (and also my all time favorite planeswalker): Venser, the Sojourner!
#1: Best Reprints
| Deck | Cards of Note |
| Invent Superiority | Baleful Strix, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Master of Etherium, Solemn Simulacrum, Ethersworn Adjudicator, Hellkite Tyrant, Godo, Bandit Warlord, Beacon of Unrest. |
| Entropic Uprising | Bloodbraid Elf, Chaos Warp, Past in Flames, Chromatic Lantern, Burgeoning, Waste Not, Shadowblood Ridge. |
| Breeding Lethality | Scavenging Ooze, Ghave, Guru of Spores, Reveillark, Cauldron of Souls, Darkwater Catacombs, Sungrass Prairie, Underground River. |
| Stalwart Unity | Chasm Skulker, Tempt with Discovery, Oath of Druids, Lurking Predators, Forbidden Orchard, Homeward Path, Myriad Landscape |
| Open Hostility | Iroas, God of Victory, Lightning Greaves, Everlasting Torment, Karplusan Forest. |
For our final ranking, we have reprints, and for this group, we are only looking at cards that have a current value of $3 or more. While these decks are stuffed full of cards that are playable in Commander, being able to get a copy of Rakdos Charm or Spelltwine isn't that exciting because these cards were already inexpensive and attainable. On the other hand, getting a bunch of expensive reprints is one of the big reasons to buy a Commander deck. Remember: you are essentially getting a pile of cards that (as of a couple of days ago) were worth $100 or more for only $35.
As far as reprint value, it's pretty clearly Invent Superiority that comes out on top. Not only does it have the highest number of reprints worth at least $3, but many of the reprinted cards in Invent Superiority are high in price because they have a lot of demand (rather than low supply), which means these staples are more likely to maintain their value moving forward. On the other side, we have Open Hostility, which backs up its lowest overall value by having the worst reprints, with only Iroas, God of Victory being all that important or of significant value. While getting a Lightning Greaves is nice, many players will already have a copy and Everlasting Torment is a fringe card at best.
Final Rankings
We've ranked the Commander 2016 decks from best to worst in nine different categories, so now it's time to put everything together and see which Commander 2016 deck is best overall. Here's the plan: coming in first place in a category is worth five points, and coming in last place in a category is worth one point, so we'll add everything up and see what happens. The best possible overall score would be 45 points (first place in every category), and the worst possible score would be nine points (last in every group). So without further ado, here's the final overall ranking of the Commander 2016 decks.
#5: Open Hostility (23 points): The biggest problem for Open Hostility is that it didn't come out on top of a single ranking. It also came in dead last in three categories: best reprints, most value, and best four-color commanders.
#4: Entropic Uprising (24 points): Entropic Uprising the most hit-or-miss deck in the bunch. It actually came out in first place on both new commander categories (best partner commanders and best four-color commanders) but suffered in the reprint categories and for having very few good colorless cards to help players build their Commander collection.
#3: Stalwart Unity (25 Points): Stalwart Unity comes in third based on scoring well in value categories, having not only the most value overall but also the most valuable lands, which are helpful in building a Commander collection. On the other hand, it got dinged hard for having—by far—the worst partner commanders and for having uninspired new cards in general.
#2: Breeding Lethality (29 points): Breeding Lethality is the slow and steady deck. While it came in on top of only two categories (best non-legendary new cards and most playable out of the box), it managed to avoid coming in at the bottom of any category, instead posting a lot of middle-of-the-pack finishes, which was enough to shoot it up our overall rankings to second place.
#1: Invent Superiority (30 points): And there you have it—the single best Commander 2016 deck is Invent Superiority, which edged out Breeding Lethality by a single point! How did the artifact deck go about putting together the victory? It came in first place in three categories, taking home the prize for best reprints, best reprinted commanders, and best colorless cards, while also coming in among the top half of decks in three more, giving the deck just enough points to slip past Breeding Lethality and take home the grand prize!
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today! Which Commander 2016 deck do you like best? Which card is your favorite? Let me know in the comments, and as always, you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive and at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com!
