I play casual commander with my wife. So the need to buy new pre cons is a feeling we get very seldomly. It normally takes a big set or something we are fond of to get us to buy one. For example, my extended family loves Lord of the Rings. They said they would learn to play magic if I got the decks. We had several game nights playing those. Fallout is one of my favorite IPs, so naturally I grabbed all of them. So as you can see, I rarely buy pre-cons, but when I do, I tend to get them all. My wife and I also got the Eldrazi and Sliver pre-cons from Commander Masters. Outside of that, I’m normally a buy singles, build my own decks kinda guy. With that said, 2025 presented several commander pre-cons that hit my radar, but I didn’t pick up. These are the decks I wished I had grabbed.

#5 Counter Intelligence (Edge of Eternities)

Here’s something funny. I almost asked for this Pre-Con for Christmas. At the end of the of the day, I just wasn’t very interested in the way that it played. That may sound weird for the #5 deck I wished I had bought, but the truth is, I liked parts of it more than the whole of it.

Kilo really interest me as a proliferate Tiny Leader commander. My thought process was to create a Uwr infect deck with Blighted Agent, and Prologue to Phyresis, then back that up with proliferate triggers from Ripples of Potential, Experimental Augury, and Thrummingbird. One problem I had is I’d rather Kilos be Grixis [BUR] so I could have Voidwing Hybrid and Anoint with Affliction. So honestly, I did not pull the trigger on this one, even though parts of it are cool. The mana base also has cards I like, too, which is a plus.

#4 World Shaper [Edge of Eternities]

Another Edge of Eternities Pre-Con. Admittedly, this set had a cool aesthetic and backed it up with some sweet cards. I have yet to play with the station/spacecraft cards. I’m kind of an old man at this point, so new things scare me. However, the the backing theme of saccing seems very coherent, which is not always present in a pre-con. This would be the deck I would buy for my wife. Despite Mardu being her favorite color scheme, she loves sacrificing for burn damage. I think the land subtheme looks interesting as well. So overall, I like the look of how this one plays.

Korvold as a back-up commander is kind of insane, and truthfully would probably be my wife’s commander. Scouring Swarm is one of my favorite cards from the new set. Exploration Broodship is a great call back to the OG Exploration. I’m limiting it to three pictures per deck, however there’s so many good, playable reprints in here its crazy. Harrow, Mayhem Devil, Satyr Wayfinder, Tear Asunder, The Gitrog Monster, Tireless Tracker, Moraug, Fury of Akoum, and Oracle of Mul Daya are all good inclusion and we could probably go on and on.

#3 Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed [Final Fantasy]

This could have been #1 as it was certainly the one I was most tempted to buy. It also is probably the closest to my actual playstyle. So why didn’t buy it? 2 big reasons. 1. I actually built my Esper commander from this very same set, Noctis. So I was conflicted building two commanders from the same set that were the same color. Their playstyle are very different, so I am not ruling her out forever, but I am not in a rush. Secondly, I play mostly 1v1 commander with my wife. So that really lowers her triggering potential. Since she triggers on each end step, playing 1v1 instead of multiplayer free for all cuts from four triggers to two. That was honestly the biggest reason I didn’t get this one. Now, don’t get me wrong, she would still let me draw two additional cards a turn loop. The second effect would still be in play and is what draws me to her in the first place. It just gets harder because her second ability is meant to trigger her first.

Admittedly, I found the reprint value here a little weak. It introduced Tataru Taru which seems to be approaching all star status. It does include one of my favorite combos: Torrential Gearhulk and Sublime Epiphany, allowing to you make multiple Gearhulks and cast multiple spells. Dig Through Time and Into the Story are sweet. Frantic Search and Unwind seem like omissions here.

#2 Temur Roar (Tarkir Dragonstorm)

Tarkir is my favorite plane along with Theros, so I was really tempted to grab each of the pre-cons. Ultimately I passed because April is so hectic [my anniversary, my wife’s birthday, and my daughter’s birthday] so I had very little in the way of spare time or money for pre-con decks. Temur is my favorite 3 color scheme, but it is also one of the hardest for me to build. I like the idea of Temur monsters [as Surrak Dragonclaw was the closest I’ve come to building a Temur commander]. Not sure if I want to lock myself into dragons. My wife has a Kaalia deck and has all our good red dragons. Ultiamtely, upon revisiting this deck, Eshki Dragonclaw has caught my attention as a Temur Adventure deck. I want a Temur commander deck. I’m just not sure who I want as my commander.

These are some really cool cards. I like the look of Sarkhan here. I think its a neat card.

#1 Sultai Arisen [Tarkir Dragonstorm]

My number one is Teval. My top 3 all interested in one way or another, but ultimately I did not pull the trigger on any of them. Teval is in one of my favorite color schemes and I love the play pattern. Unfortunately, my favorite commander deck is Mothman, the Sultai commander from Fallout. Still, this deck seems awesome. The reason its number 1 on my list is because it created a strategy I really want to play. I’m thinking about taking this idea down to Tiny Leader or Pauper EDH. When a card leaves your graveyard.

I actually didn’t realize Kheru Goldkeeper wasn’t in the pre-con. That’s actually crazy. Either way, I was thinking baout taking Kishla Skimmer to Tiny Leader and Goldkeeper to Pauper EDH.  Thats getting beside the point. Point is, I like the strategy of this pre-con more than any of the other ones we’ve looked at. Delve and Renew, both sultai mechanics, play nice here. Flashback cards like Think Twice also seem okay. All in all, this strategy is the one I’m watching closely!

So there you have it. I think 2025 will be a year a lot of people look back on with a stink eye because most of the sets don’t feel like Magic. 3 Universe Beyond sets, a set in space, and a set about cars make it a weird year. Of course we returned to a fan favorite plane in Tarkir, so I cannot complain. Also, Spiderman and Avatar not getting commander decks I think are to their detriment.

So I will probably not be picking up any commander pre-cons, but next year Lorwyn might give us an elf pre-con and I am all about that! Anyway, thanks for reading. I will see you guys in the next one.