Warhammer 40k MTG Commander Decks: Are They Worth It?

Last updated on October 21, 2026

Imotekh the Stormlord | Illustration by JB Casacop

Warhammer 40,000 marked Magic: The Gathering’s first foray into Universes Beyond Commander precons. They were immediate hits, planting many commanders that have sustained their place in the Top 100, while also upping the ante on how strong precons could be out of the box. Warhammer 40k also matches Magic’s fantasy aesthetic pretty well, so it was a great fit for a crossover set.

If you want a taste of 40k without embarking on a years-long journey of collecting and painting miniatures, these Commander precons might be right up your alley.

What Are the Warhammer 40k Commander Decks?

Chaos Defiler | Illustration by Games Workshop

The Warhammer 40k Commander decks are a series of four preconstructed Commander decks set in the universe of Warhammer 40k. Each of these decks come with a complete 100-card Commander deck based around one of the factions of the game. You can choose from:

• Tyranid Swarm (blue/red/green)
• The Ruinous Powers (blue/black/red)
• Necron Dynasties (mono-black)
• Forces of the Imperium (white/blue/black)

Each deck features 40 unique cards themed around some of Warhammer’s classic characters. On top of that, all the reprints in these decks feature new artwork that sets them in the Warhammer 40k universe. The idea is for each of these four decks to feel like they really bridge the gap between these two franchises, and to give 40k fans a unique gameplay experience in the setting of Commander.

The Warhammer 40k decks ended up being very powerful, with many of the cards going on to become staples in Commander, and many commanders sticking around well past the point where hype for these decks died down.

There are Collector’s Edition versions of all four decks, with the only differences being that those versions come entirely in surge foil and that they’re wildly more expensive.

Note these decks are very expensive as of late 2026, but it’s been confirmed that they’ll be getting a short rerun, which will certainly drop the prices of the decks and singles by a bit. All upcoming prices mentioned are before these decks have been officially recirculated.

Tyranid Swarm

Commanders, Theme, and Strategy

The two main Commanders for Tyranid Swarm are The Swarmlord and Magus Lucea Kane. These two cards set the theme of this deck up quite nicely. The whole strategy is centered around two things: mana ramp and +1/+1 counters.

The Swarmlord is a big dumb tyranid that gets bigger every time you cast it and draws you cards whenever your buffed creatures die. While it’s the face card of the deck, I think Magus Lucea Kane is actually the stronger Commander. Magus is great to cast early and gives you extra copies of the large creatures you’re ramping into.

The deck also has a theme of casting X-spells. A lot of the tyranids in this deck are ravenous creatures with in their mana costs. These give the deck a lot of staying power and extra card draw in the late game.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

Nexos, Biophagus, and Sporocyst are some of the standout +1/+1 counter cards to come out of this deck, and they’ve risen in price over time due to the exclusivity of the 40k precons.

As of late 2026, Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph and Shadow in the Warp are the biggest hits, the former being a highly popular burn commander, and the enchantment providing excellent cost reduction and passive damage for RG+ decks.

The Red Terror also deserves a mention as a combo piece with other cards like All Will Be One.

These decks only come with a couple dozen reprints, and most of the ones in this deck are typical Commander staples like a Sol Ring and the usual green ramp spells like Rampant Growth and Cultivate. There’s a Hardened Scales, plus a Herald's Horn and an Icon of Ancestry since this is, at its core, a typal deck.

The Verdict

I don’t think the Tyranids had to try very hard to be my favorite deck of the lot. Of course the green player is going to love the Temur () ramp deck with alien hordes and big X-spells. I think this deck really hits the mark with what a green ramp deck is supposed to be doing. If I was to pick any of the four decks to buy, it would be this one for sure.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck – Tyranid Swarm

• 100-card ready-to-play Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck—Tyranid Swarm
• Green-Blue-Red Deck—contains 2 legendary traditional foil cards plus 98 nonfoil cards
• Every card features Warhammer-themed art—including 42 cards that are new to Magic
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander
• 10 double-sided tokens, 1 life tracker, and 1 deck box

$315.00

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The Ruinous Powers

Commanders, Theme, and Strategy

The two main commanders for The Ruinous Powers are Abaddon the Despoiler and Be'lakor, the Dark Master. Unlike the tyranids, this deck’s strategy isn’t quite as linear, with multiple themes competing for the spotlight.

There’s a small cascade theme with a handful of cascade spells along with the ability of Abaddon itself, as well as cards that trigger whenever you cast spells from outside of the hand. Additionally, there’s a demon subtheme to support Be’lakor.

This is best described as “Grixis () good stuff”. If you enjoy midrange battles featuring plenty of creature removal, creatures with effects that annoy everyone else at the table, and some really wild table-flipping interactions, then this is probably the deck for you!

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

The Ruinous Powers has three big-money cards to be aware of, including Magnus the Red as a strong spellslinger/token commander, Bloodthirster as a way to merk the whole table across multiple combats, and Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch to rebuy an instant or sorcery each turn.

Poxwalkers, Blood for the Blood God!, and Keeper of Secrets aren’t far below the $10 mark either.

Dark Ritual, Past in Flames, and Reverberate are the only reprints that remained above the $2 mark three years after the deck’s initial release.

The Verdict

The Ruinous Powers has produced a lot of long-standing Commander cards, from both of its commanders down to its cascade support and staples for demon decks. The two themes within the deck are a bit disparate, but they’re both powerful enough to coexist in the precon, and the individual pieces are quite strong once you upgrade the deck and start specializing in one direction or the other.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck – The Ruinous Powers

• 100-card ready-to-play Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck—The Ruinous Powers
• Blue-Black-Red Chaos Deck—contains 2 legendary traditional foil cards plus 98 nonfoil cards
• Every card features Warhammer-themed art—including 42 cards that are new to Magic
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander
• 10 double-sided tokens, 1 life tracker, and 1 deck box

$348.95

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Necron Dynasties

Commanders, Theme, and Strategy

The commanders for Necron Dynasties are Szarekh, the Silent King and Imotekh the Stormlord. The necrons are basically an army of robotic skeleton warriors, so putting them in black and making them artifact creatures makes a lot of sense. The themes are fairly transparent here too.

The deck is entirely based around both artifacts and doing what black does best, self-mill and graveyard recursion. Although Szarekh is the face commander, I actually like Imotekh a fair bit more. It really comes down to whether or not you think it’s best to have an enabler or a payoff as your commander, since Szarekh mills you while Imotekh rewards you for getting stuff out of your graveyard once it’s milled. The commanders work really well in tandem with each other. I almost wish they were partner commanders of some sort.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

Necron Dynasties has eight cards worth $10 or more pre-recirculation. One is a Darkness reprint, a black fog from Legends that still has fewer than five total printings.

Canoptek Scarab Swarm, Cryptothrall, Their Name Is Death, and Canoptek Spyder are all artifact support pieces, with Cryptothrall reaching around $30 in late 2026.

Resurrection Orb and Sceptre of Eternal Glory are more general artifacts with potential outside the deck. Out of the Tombs is a strange turbo self-mill piece with a built in lose-con. Biotransference is just below the $10 mark, and another unique artifact card with high upside.

Additional inclusions like Mystic Forge, Endless Atlas, Vault of Whispers, and Living Death help bolster the reprint value of the deck. This is also notable the only precon in this cycle that doesn’t have a terrible mana base, owing to the fact that it’s mono-black with mostly just swamps and a few black utility lands.

The Verdict

Mono-black is very dear to my heart. It’s a deck that made me fall in love with Pauper, and I’ve always enjoyed making it work in other formats, especially Legacy. This deck’s very enjoyable to play and is probably the most powerful for “competitive” play with such a succinct and well-supported theme.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck – Necron Dynasties

• 100-card ready-to-play Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck— Necron Dynasties
• Black Deck—contains 2 legendary traditional foil cards plus 98 nonfoil cards
• Every card features Warhammer-themed art—including 42 cards that are new to Magic
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander
• 10 double-sided tokens, 1 life tracker, and 1 deck box

$385.00

Buy on Amazon

Forces of the Imperium

Commanders, Theme, and Strategy

Your commanders for Forces of the Imperium are Inquisitor Greyfax and Marneus Calgar. The theme of the deck is also fairly well pronounced by looking at their abilities: this is a tokens deck.

The Imperium Forces is all about going wide on the board and buffing your whole army at once. Some of the creatures have the “squad” keyword, first introduced here as a means of giving you tons of built-in ways to multiply your creatures with ease.

Much like the other two synergy-driven decks, I actually prefer the backup commander Marneus Calgar over the face commander. Marneus not only pays you off for making tokens, but it also creates them with its activated ability. It’s pretty much everything I want in a cool build-around Commander card.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

Though prices will likely drop after the deck is recirculated, as of late 2026 there are nine cards in this deck worth $10 or more.

Thunderhawk Gunship, Reaver Titan, and The Golden Throne are the standout artifacts.

Commissar Severina Raine, Celestine, the Living Saint, and Marneus Calgar are expensive legends, with the Esper legend being one of the best token commanders ever printed.

And They Shall Know No Fear, Sister Hospitaller, and Vexilus Praetor don’t go in every deck, but their usefulness in the decks that want them have contributed to their price tag.

There’s very little in the way of reprint value outside of Skullclamp, though it never hurts to have another Swords to Plowshares, and this is the only printing of Deplot to the Front outside of Commander 2014.

The Verdict

Forces of the Imperium ticks all the important boxes for a token-themed deck. You’ve got plenty of good token makers, a lot of powerful effects that boost your entire army, and plenty of sweet payoffs to help you get there. Inquisitor Greyfax isn’t the most compelling commander in the world, but Marneus Calgar swaps in beautifully and really notches up what this deck can do out of the box.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck – Forces of the Imperium

• Ready-to-play Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck with 100 Cards - Imperial Armed Forces
• White Blue Black Deck - Includes 2 Legendary Foil Cards and 98 Non-Oil Cards
• All cards show Warhammer inspired illustrations - including 42 cards that For the first time in magic. t.
• 1 display commander card as etched foil card
• 10 double-sided token cards, 1 life point counter and 1 deck box. Rule of a new battlefield in epic multiplayer magic parties that are in the world of the popular tabletop war game Warhammer 40. .000 are located.

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What’s the Best Warhammer 40k Commander Deck?

In my most humble opinion, the strongest Warhammer 40k Commander deck is Necron Dynasties. It has the most valuable reprints and one of the more cohesive strategies of them all. On pretty much every metric I can come up with, the necron deck wins.

Sale

Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck – Necron Dynasties

• 100-card ready-to-play Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck— Necron Dynasties
• Black Deck—contains 2 legendary traditional foil cards plus 98 nonfoil cards
• Every card features Warhammer-themed art—including 42 cards that are new to Magic
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander
• 10 double-sided tokens, 1 life tracker, and 1 deck box

$385.00

Buy on Amazon

Commanding Conclusion

For the Emperor! | Illustration by Games Workshop

Universes Beyond continues to be a contentious part of the Magic set release strategy, though most people agree Warhammer 40k was UB done right. It’s Magic-adjacent (not that far off from something like The Brothers’ War), and it wasn’t forced into Standard like recent sets, so it was opt-in, opt-out. Whatever your views on Universes Beyond, these decks really pushed the envelope for Commander precons.

What do you think of these Commander decks? Would you pick any up when they get recirculated? Let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord. And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond Warhammer 40,000 Commander Deck Bundle – Includes 1 The Ruinous Powers, 1 Necron Dynasties, 1 Forces of The Imperium, and 1 Tyranid Swarm

• Bundle of all 4 Warhammer 40,000 Commander Decks—The Ruinous Powers, Necron Dynasties, Forces of the Imperium, and Tyranid Swarm
• All 4 ready-to-play MTG decks contain 100 Magic cards (2 traditional foil + 98 nonfoil)
• Every card features Warhammer-themed art—including 42 cards that are new to Magic
• Each deck comes with 1 Foil-Etched Display Commander, 10 tokens, 1 life tracker + 1 deck box
• Command a new battlefield with epic multiplayer Magic games set in the world of the popular tabletop miniatures game, Warhammer 40,000

$799.91

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Until next time, take care of yourselves!

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