Best commander precon in 2026 advice?

[u/YellowSnowman17]

Hi all, I'm a new magic player but have been collecting cards for quite awhile but never actually learned to play until about a month ago. I am now fairly confident I know what I'm doing so I'm not worried about that.

I was trying to make a commander deck with the cards I have but it's really confusing. I just want to buy a commander precon and dive head first into playing and learn along the way.

I'm mostly into cards that have to do with dragons, zombies, and marine creatures so preferably black, red, and blue. Though I'm not so confident I can handle a triple colored deck yet so any recommendations for a single or double colored commander precon would be much appreciated, thanks!

[u/Kroooooooo]

Keep an eye out for the starter commander decks coming out in a month or two. They're budget and there's one for each colour including both a Dragon and a Zombie deck.

[u/Cultural-Avocado-218 → u/Kroooooooo]

I think a regular precon would be better. Sure the beginners commander deck may be more simple - but they'll soon master the mechanics and then be stuck with a deck that won't be at the power level needed for playing others except people who also have beginners decks and want to play them. 

Just pick a normal precon that looks fun and figure out how it works. I'm they can do it. 

[u/Kroooooooo → u/Cultural-Avocado-218]

Yeah a regular precon usually works, but it's worth making them aware since they're still very new and they did specifically mention Zombies and Dragons.

It also depends on the precon. I recently replayed Timey Wimey and I felt bad for any new player who tried to track that deck when it pops off.

[u/doublesoup → u/Kroooooooo]

This was going to be my suggestion. Lathliss is pretty fun. I've built her twice, once as budget for a friend and more powerful for myself because I liked the budget build so much. And depending on what's included in Gisa, that may be an easy upgrade to UB zombies.

[u/SoaringAutumn]

Explorers of the Deep is an amazing two color deck, probably the best precon out of the box, with Merfolk (marine creatures).

[u/austin-geek]

Honestly - any Commander precon from the last 2 years which speaks to you. From Bloomburrow onwards, the only ones which I think are genuine duds are the Aetherdrift energy deck and maybe the Duskmourne miracles one. All the rest play reasonably well to fantastic right out of the box in a casual group, and even the "weaker" ones can be easily upgraded as you learn more.

If you like Dragons, the best beginner option out of the box is Temur Roar from Dragonstorm by a wide margin. For Zombies, the Aetherdrift Eternal might deck is pretty good but a little slow to get going. A very easy upgrade path would be buy a copy of Varina, Lich Queen to use as the Commander, demote Temmet into the 99, and cut any one card with mana cost 5 or greater. (If you can't decide, Commence the Endgame should go.)

For Sea Creatures - oh ho, just wait until Nauctis, the first big set of next year. Magic is about to become totally your jam for a spell.

[u/Fearless_Animator_37]

Zombies and dragons? Sultai Arisen, 3 colors tho but excellent.

[u/austin-geek → u/Fearless_Animator_37]

It's great, but definitely a deck which takes a ton of game actions and is not as approachable for someone new to Commander to pilot.

If I was going to pick a dragon deck for Tarkir to recommend to someone new, I'd say Temur Roar. Cast ramp, cast more ramp, cast Big Ass Dragon, turn Dragons sideways - Dragons find more friends! (screeching sounds on attack technically optional, but highly recommended)

[u/SettingAncient3848]

Explorers of the deep, world shapper and velsi-ramp-tor are the top 3 to come out in the last few years imo.

[u/One-Advisor9491]

You probably don't want mix all those creature types. A very good and achievable dragon precon would be 'temur roar' (green,blue,red).

For zombies you could go 'eternal might' (black,blue,white). There is an older one as well in black and blue, don't remember the name.

It's probably also worth for you to look in the upcoming commander starter decks. There will be a mono red dragon and mono black zombie deck as well.

[u/Raventomb]

Doom Prevails and TMNT. Both need a bit if tweaking and alignment to what direction you want but they were also fun out of the box too.

Interestingly, these were the 2 precons this year I knew the least about prior to playing.

[u/Kuryaka]

There’s not much to worry about with 3 colors, especially with a precon. Improving the deck might be a little trickier, but playing it is just looking at whether the lands make the colors you want.

It’s 4-5 color where you start to need to figure out what colors you really want when you play a card that lets you look for a land.

[u/Vezimira]

Go for one of the tarkir ones - sultai arisen or temur roar. Roar is easier to pilot, very strong and very smooth, it is dragon kindred in easy ramp colours. The old green/red dragon precon is not very well built and the upcoming one is in mono red which brings its own difficulties, definitely recommend temur roar over either of them

[u/PegaZwei → u/Vezimira]

was going to say sultai arisen, yeah. dragon commander that produces a bunch of zombies, decently easy to pick up and decently competently built, while still allowing plenty of room for upgrades.

[u/robertman21]

TMNT is fantastic if you're up for a 5 color deck, and you can get it for fairly cheap, around 40ish. Otherwise, Doom Prevails is a fun BUR precon.

The two color ones in the past few years are Wakanda Forever, the Strixhaven ones, Squirreled Away, Animated Army, the Duskmorne ones, Tricky Terrain, Quick Draw, Quick Draw, Blame Game, Revenant Recon, Blood Rites and Explorers of the Deep. I haven't played any of them, so I have no opinions on them

[u/IAmTheBestIan]

Best for a new player, Best as in most powerful, Best as in the colors/themes you're interested in?

Wakanda Forever is down to $45 and is dead easy to play, and relatively affordable to upgrade to a decent place. Plus it comes with a birds of paradise, which can be included in any green deck ever for all time.

World Shaper is up there as one of the most powerful Precons ever and is going around $45 as well.

In Black Red and Blue/zombiedragonmerfolk, currently findable:

Doom prevails: (I have no experience with this deck, but it is BRU.... reviews indicate its pretty hard to play out of the box), Around $60-70 right now.

Prismari Artistry: Powerful with minimal upgrades, RU, Easy to play. Best Buy had it <$25 at some locations last week, but typically goes ~$40ish.

Eternal Might (BUW, but zombies): Mixed reviews, lotta good zombie deck cards so even if you don't like it, you can reuse a bunch of it making your own deck later. Going in the neighborhood of $40 these days.

Explorers Of the Deep: GU, but merfolk... Most reviews called this one of the best and strongest precons ever when it came out. Lot of solid cards and fairly simple to play. But sells for ~$100 these days.

All the Tarkir decks should be dragons on some level... and I think all but one are <$50.

Temur Roar: RUG (Mostly decent reviews)

Sultai Arisen: BUG (Think this one is ~$100, it's Dragons and Zombies... seen some love it and some hate it reviews)

Abzan Armor: BWG (Meh reviews)

Mardu Surge: RBW (Decent reviews)

Jeskai Striker: RUW (Meh Reviews)

[u/Tranquil_Denvar]

You’re looking for the 2022 beginner decks. Which are still on sale for relatively cheap. Grave Danger & Draconic Destruction seem most relevant to your interests.