Commander Legends Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Decks: Are They Worth It?

Last updated on March 14, 2024

Calculating Lich | Illustration by Antonio José Manzanedo

The new Commander supplementary set, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, is finally here. The set features hundreds of new cards for Commander and even releases with four new 2-color Commander decks for players to check out and buy.

Today I’m going over every deck in detail with their official decklists and their individual commanders, themes, strategy, reprints, and overall quality. Let’s get into it!

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate 4 Deck Bundle – Includes 1 Party Time, 1 Mind Flayarrrs, 1 Draconic Dissent, 1 Exit from Exile

• Bundle of all 4 Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Decks—Party Time, Mind Flayarrrs, Draconic Dissent, and Exit from Exile
• Includes 4 Collector Booster Sample Packs (total of 8 cards)—1 with each deck
• All 4 ready-to-play MTG decks contain 100 Magic cards (3 traditional foil + 97 nonfoil)
• Each deck comes with 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 tokens, 1 life tracker + 1 deck box
• Each deck contains 10 cards not found in the main set

$278.99

Buy on Amazon

All About the Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate Commander Decks

Xenagos, the Reveler | Illustration by Jason Chan

What is Battle for Baldur's Gate Commander?

Like every set release nowadays, Battle for Baldur’s Gate releases with a few new Commander precons alongside it. The Commander-focused set features four new 2-colored EDH decks with 10 new cards, a collector booster sample pack, and a sweet legendary commander.

How Does Battle for Baldur's Gate Commander Compare to Other Precons?

Commander precons are all very similar. They each feature a complete Commander deck, usually with 5 to 15 new cards, a foil legendary commander, and all the necessary tokens. The Battle for Baldur's Gate decks are no different and do a great job of adding new leaders like the previous Commander Legends.

The collector booster sample pack is the only thing new here. It’s just a 2-card collector booster, with one card being a rare or mythic from the set and the other being a foil common or uncommon. It’s a nice touch that makes it feel like you’re getting some extra value from your purchase.

-

Best Value, Most Fun

-

Most Competitive

-

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Party Time + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version, D10150000

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Mind Flayarrrs + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Draconic Dissent + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Exit from Exile + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

$90.00

$149.99

$109.99

$109.99

-

-

-

-

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Party Time + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version, D10150000

$90.00

-

Buy on Amazon

Best Value, Most Fun

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Mind Flayarrrs + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

$149.99

-

Buy on Amazon

Most Competitive

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Draconic Dissent + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

$109.99

-

Buy on Amazon

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Exit from Exile + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

$109.99

-

Buy on Amazon

Should I Buy the Battle for Baldur's Gate Commander Decks?

This entirely depends on your current state as a player. If you’re brand new to Commander and looking to break into the format, the new Battle for Baldur's Gate decks are great options that provide plenty of value, which means they’re worth getting for MSRP.

But if you’re an experienced and hardened EDH player, you might not have too much of a need to pick the Battle for Baldur's Gate precons up. There are no crazy reprints like Dockside Extortionist or Mana Drain here, so you’d only be buying these to pick up new singles included in the list.

Party Time

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Nalia de'Arnise | Illustration by John Stanko

The commander for Party Time is Nalia de'Arnise, an Orzhov () human rogue who loves the party mechanic. Interestingly, this is the only card in CLB that features the party mechanic in any way, which came as a surprise considering the importance it holds in D&D and Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.

Nalia allows you to cast party spells (clerics, rogues, warriors, and wizards) from the top of your library. It gives all your creatures a +1/+1 counter and deathtouch until end of turn if you have a full party at the beginning combat on your turn. This is a pretty sweet mechanic for a creature-based party deck, and helps add some value to your already creature-packed list.

The deck’s strategy is pretty straightforward: fill up your board with party creatures to turn on synergies that care about it. Every single creature in the deck is either a shapeshifter or a party creature, which means you’ll almost never be too far away from turning on your commander.

In addition to your commander, cards like Archpriest of Iona, Malakir Blood-Priest, and Harper Recruiter also give various kinds of bonuses along the way. Folk Hero and Multiclass Baldric help tremendously in terms of continuous value.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

While there are no huge money cards in the precon, there are still some notable inclusions that can be used in plenty of other decks or sold.

Mutavault is the most prominent of these. It’s a common card in just about every tribal deck, even Legacy Merfolk, and can go for about $10. A similar story can be told about Skullclamp and Sevinne's Reclamation, which are practically format staples at this point, and can also be found going for about $10.

In terms of other pricey cards that aren’t as notable, you’re looking at Calculating Lich, Seasoned Dungeoneer, and Grim Hireling which all float around the $10 range. These are some nice inclusions that help pad the price of the precon.

The Verdict

Party Time is without a doubt one of the better precons we’ve seen in recent sets in all ways. It has a great resale value of well over $100, which is more than we can say about the Innistrad: Crimson Vow precons.

It also has a nice simple yet powerful strategy that all players can enjoy. Creature-based strategies are easy to pick up yet still offer moments for interaction and decision-making.

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Party Time + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version, D10150000

• Minimal packaging for less waste
• 100-card ready-to-play Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck—Party Time
• 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack
• White-Black deck—includes 3 traditional foils plus 97 nonfoil cards
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker and deck box

$90.00

Buy on Amazon

Mind Flayarrrs

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Captain N'ghathrod Illustration by Andrey Kuzinskiy

Captain N'ghathrod leads the Mind Flayarrrs. I’ve been super excited to write about this ever since I saw the commander spoiled. The Captain gives all your horror creatures menace and mills opponents equal to the damage they take from horrors in combat.

The catch is that you get to reanimate an artifact or creature put into an opponent’s graveyard from their library that turn at the beginning of your end step. This is insane, even for Dimir (). Most Dimir cards that steal permanents or spells do so in a 2-step process, where you usually have to pay a cost or activate another ability to get the card you milled or took from their hand. The fact that N’ghathrod just gets it for you, regardless of how expensive it is, is beyond my wildest dreams.

And you won’t just need to rely on Captain N'ghathrod. The deck is full of some of the most powerful Dimir horror creatures, including big names like Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar, Overcharged Amalgam, and even Hullbreaker Horror. In fact, every single creature is a horror, which means this deck can be amplified through tribal artifacts much easier in the future.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

One of the more notable reprints is Hullbreaker Horror, which tears up Standard in Izzet () combo decks.

Exotic Orchard and Creeping Tar Pit also both found their way into this precon deck, which is somewhat surprising and a great bonus for this deck even though it didn’t quite need it.

Aboleth Spawn is the most expensive card in the deck. It’s a new card and has already speculated to be somewhat of a blue staple in the format, which has caused its price to spike quite a bit.

Other than those, there are a few notable cards pricewise in the $5 department. Those are Brainstealer Dragon, Curtains' Call, From the Catacombs, [cared]Black Market[/card], Endless Evil, Hunted Horror, and Herald's Horn.

The Verdict

The verdict on Mind Flayarrrs is that this deck is sweet. It reminds me a lot of Undead Unleashed, the Dimir precon deck from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Commander. It’s super powerful, has an excellent commander who will absolutely reshape the casual EDH meta, and offers nearly triple the MSRP in value across a dozen or so cards. It’s everything we want to see in a Commander precon.

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Mind Flayarrrs + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

• Minimal packaging for less waste
• 100-card ready-to-play Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck—Mind Flayarrrs
• 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack
• Blue-Black deck—includes 3 traditional foils plus 97 nonfoil cards
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker and deck box

$149.99

Buy on Amazon

Draconic Dissent

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Firkraag, Cunning Instigator | Illustration by Andrew Mar

Draconic Dissent is the new Izzet preconstructed Commander deck. It’s headed by a new dragon, Firkraag, Cunning Instigator, who loves goading creatures and drawing you cards for it. Some are calling Firkraag the Niv-Mizzet of goading creatures, but I’m still hesitant to take part in such blasphemy, especially when Niv-Mizzet, Parun is in the deck.

Put simply, this is the goad deck. It revolves around goading opponents’ creatures to incite chaos and benefit from it. It then leverages Izzet’s dragons, tempo, and control to manipulate the game and pull out a win through combat damage.

It’s a very interesting style and not something we see very often, which is a good thing. But it does mean that we’re not playing a lot of the staple blue cards we’ve come to know and love, like Cyclonic Rift or Devastation Tide. We’re actually relying on our opponents having access to creatures to attack our opponents with in the first place, so we’re relying more on Curse of the Swine and Reins of Power to get the job done.

I’m glad we’re getting a dragon sub-theme in the list. Goading our opponents’ creatures isn’t as much of a win condition as it is a way to pull ahead. Warmonger Hellkite, Thunder Dragon, and Drakuseth, Maw of Flames are all included in the deck as a fantastic way to actually close out games.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

The deck includes a few notable cards as well as new cards that have been growing in price due to speculation regarding their power level and use in the format.

Your notable reprints are Chaos Warp, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, both Will Kenrith and Rowan Kenrith, Solemn Simulacrum, Blasphemous Act, and Curse of Opulence.

A lot of the new cards in the precon are also floating around the $5 to $15 area, but that can be subject to change after release. Those cards are Bothersome Quasit, Astral Dragon, and Loot Dispute.

The Verdict

While I really like Draconic Dissent and think that it brings a much-needed fresh style of strategy to Izzet, I’m just not as big of a fan as compared to Mind Flayarrrs. But I still think it’s a great precon and certainly better than average.

There aren’t many worthwhile reprints, so the deck will end up relying heavily on new cards to carry its worth in singles value. If it ends up being that the total value of singles is less than or about equal to the total MSRP, then it just isn’t really worth picking up as a sealed product.

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Draconic Dissent + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

• Minimal packaging for less waste
• 100-card ready-to-play Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander deck—Draconic Dissent
• 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack
• Blue-Red deck—includes 3 traditional foils plus 97 nonfoil cards
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker and deck box

$109.99

Buy on Amazon

Exit from Exile

Commander, Theme, and Strategy

Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

The last of the four new precons coming in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate is Exit from Exile. The deck’s commander is Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, a 3/3 human druid that gives you the chance to cast cards exiled from the top of your library and gives you a cute 2/2 Wolf for doing so.

But Faldorn’s ability doesn’t care how you exiled the card that you’re playing, only that it came from exile. That means the deck is full of ways to exile cards from various places and then give you the ability to play them. Think cards like Dire Fleet Daredevil, Laelia, the Blade Reforged, and even cascade cards like Bloodbraid Elf.

This is classic Gruul () beatdown with a twist. It’s great because the twist is more card advantage and value, which makes the otherwise dull strategy more interactive and interesting. The theme with these new precons seems to have been consistently reinventing themes already very present in their guild’s colors, which I’m all here for.

Notable Cards: Reprints and $$

The deck has a number of notable reprints, some even worth a few bucks.

Xenagos, the Reveler is the first one you’ll recognize. This is one of the best Gruul planeswalkers. It offers mana, power, and even card advantage later in the game, all things this deck can’t get enough of.

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds is also included as the only mono-green walker. Viven’s passive ability, which gives your creatures flash, is really nice since you’re casting from exile and can then flash in blockers. It’s a nice touch of interaction that smooths out the creature-heavy gameplay.

Etali, Primal Storm is a red reprint that we love to see in the deck. It’s super powerful and while it isn’t too costly, it’s perfectly on-theme with the rest of the deck. Hornet Queen and Urabrask the Hidden both make an appearance in the deck.

The Verdict

Overall, Exit from Exile provides a fun and powerful strategy in a way that isn’t so commonly relied on. Stealing cards or playing them from exile isn’t an uncommon mechanic in Gruul, but it’s the entire theme of the deck which makes for a nice refreshing style of gameplay. It even has some nice reprints which means it might actually be worth buying for a long time.

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Exit from Exile + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

• Minimal packaging for less waste
• 100-card ready-to-play Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander deck—Exit from Exile
• 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack
• Red-Green deck—includes 3 traditional foils plus 97 nonfoil cards
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker and deck box

$109.99

Buy on Amazon

The Best Battle for Baldur's Gate Commander Deck

For Value

In terms of raw value, Mind Flayarrrs offers the most. Don’t be mistaken, this isn’t some investment opportunity, and it doesn’t have a Dockside Extortionist reprint, but it does have some serious value in the singles department.

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Mind Flayarrrs + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

• Minimal packaging for less waste
• 100-card ready-to-play Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck—Mind Flayarrrs
• 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack
• Blue-Black deck—includes 3 traditional foils plus 97 nonfoil cards
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker and deck box

$149.99

Buy on Amazon

For Competitive EDH Players

While this can be tough to answer due to each deck needing a serious facelift to show itself in a cEDH pod, Draconic Dissent certainly has plenty of staples and a rough shell that can be polished up. Cards like Chaos Warp, Propaganda, Blasphemous Act are all playable cards. I could see this deck being a strong shell with the right tuning and card selection, just as long as you’re in pods with creature decks.

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Draconic Dissent + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

• Minimal packaging for less waste
• 100-card ready-to-play Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander deck—Draconic Dissent
• 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack
• Blue-Red deck—includes 3 traditional foils plus 97 nonfoil cards
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker and deck box

$109.99

Buy on Amazon

The Most Fun

The most fun deck is without a doubt Mind Flayarrrs. Stealing cards is already a fun mechanic as it introduces funny and exciting moments within the game. This deck also just does it so well and so effectively with its new commander, Captain N'ghathrod. I’m going to pick this one up myself soon and give it ago, as I think it’s not too far off from being a more refined, high-power casual list.

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Mind Flayarrrs + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

• Minimal packaging for less waste
• 100-card ready-to-play Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck—Mind Flayarrrs
• 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack
• Blue-Black deck—includes 3 traditional foils plus 97 nonfoil cards
• 1 foil-etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens plus life tracker and deck box

$149.99

Buy on Amazon

Where to Buy Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate Precons

The Battle for Baldur's Gate precons can be found just about everywhere Magic cards are sold. If they’re not available at your LGS then you can easily find them on sale on Amazon individually or as a bulk set of four.

But if you’re looking to pick up each one, you’d be better off buying them in a bundle of four which could save you anywhere from $20 to $100 depending on when and from where you buy them.

Commanding Conclusion

Aboleth Spawn | Illustration by Sam Burley

And with that we’ve covered all four of the new preconstructed Commander decks coming in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate. I’m really excited to get drafting this set, and even more so to test out some new decks with Captain N'ghathrod!

-

Best Value, Most Fun

-

Most Competitive

-

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Party Time + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version, D10150000

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Mind Flayarrrs + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Draconic Dissent + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Exit from Exile + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

$90.00

$149.99

$109.99

$109.99

-

-

-

-

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Party Time + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version, D10150000

$90.00

-

Buy on Amazon

Best Value, Most Fun

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Mind Flayarrrs + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

$149.99

-

Buy on Amazon

Most Competitive

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Draconic Dissent + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

$109.99

-

Buy on Amazon

-

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Deck – Exit from Exile + Collector Booster Sample Pack | Minimal Packaging Version

$109.99

-

Buy on Amazon

What do you think of the new set and the precons overall? Are you excited at all of the new cards, or are you a little disappointed by the mechanics or reprints? I want to hear what you think, so feel free to leave a comment below or check out the official Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!

Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to make a purchase, you’ll help Draftsim continue to provide awesome free articles and apps.