10 Custom Commander Ideas That Need to Be Real (Inspiration)

Design block is real. You open the Card Creator, stare at the blank template, and... nothing.

To help jumpstart your creativity, here are 10 mechanical concepts for Commanders that Magic: The Gathering hasn't technically done yet (or hasn't done enough of). Feel free to steal these ideas, tweak them, and print them!

1. The Boros "Equipment Spellslinger"

Colors: Red/White Concept: A commander that cares about casting Equipment spells, not just attacking with them.

Ability: "Whenever you cast an Artifact spell, create a 1/1 white Soldier token. If that spell was an Equipment, you may attach it to that token."

2. The "Energy Matters" Sultai Lord

Colors: Black/Green/Blue Concept: Energy (Kaladesh) was cool, but lacks a dedicated 3-color commander.

Ability: "At the beginning of your upkeep, you get

. Whenever a creature dies, you may pay

. If you do, return it to the battlefield tapped under your control."

3. The "Group Hug" Curse

Colors: Mardu (Red/White/Black) Concept: Giving opponents gifts... that hurt.

Ability: "At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, they draw a card and lose 2 life. Whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, ~ deals 1 damage to them."

4. The Sea Monster Tribal

Colors: Simic (Blue/Green) Concept: Kiora exists, but we want a true Monster lord.

Ability: "Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, and Serpent spells you cast cost

less to cast. Whenever a creature of those types enters the battlefield under your control, you may fight target creature you don't control."

5. The "Only Odd Numbers" Companion

Colors: Izzet (Blue/Red) Concept: A mirror to Gyruda, Doom of Depths but for odd mana values.

Ability: "Whenever you cast a spell with an odd mana value, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy. (This ability triggers only once each turn.)"

6. The Mono-White Card Draw

Colors: White Concept: White struggles with draw. Let's fix it fairly.

Ability: "Whenever an opponent attacks you with two or more creatures, draw a card. Whenever an opponent casts a spell during your turn, draw a card."

7. The "Cycling from Graveyard"

Colors: Golgari (Black/Green) Concept: Cycling usually happens from hand. What if you could cycle from the grave?

Ability: "

, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Draw a card. You gain 2 life."

8. The Proper Werewolf Lord

Colors: Jund (Red/Green/Black) Concept: Werewolves need a generic "Day/Night" controller.

Ability: "At the beginning of combat on your turn, it becomes Night. Werewolves you control have Menace and Trample."

9. The Vehicle Reanimator

Colors: Jeskai (Blue/Red/White) Concept: Bringing back wrecked cars from the junkyard.

Ability: "

: Return target Vehicle card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains Haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step."

10. The "Vanilla Matters"

Colors: Bant (Green/White/Blue) Concept: Making creatures with no abilities powerful.

Ability: "Creatures you control with no abilities get +2/+2 and have Hexproof."

Ready to Build One?

Take one of these ideas and run with it! What would you name the Boros Equipment commander? Valdan, Steel-Weaver? Kora of the Forge?

Go to the TCGCustom Editor and visualize it now.