Last updated on May 17, 2025
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge | Illustration by Cynthia Sheppard
Commander has swollen from a niche casual format into the most popular way to play Magic: The Gathering, with new preconstructed Commander decks hitting the shelves alongside nearly every new set, and sometimes even more frequently with the influx of new specialty Secret Lair decks.
While WotC has definitely tried to keep the split between color identities fairly even, there are some color combinations that just don’t get enough love. Grixis () has only seen eight precon Commander decks in the 15+ years that Magic’s been producing them. Luckily, these decks cover a variety of Grixis strategies and themes, showcasing the entirety of what these three colors can do together.
What Are Grixis Commander Precons?
Nekusar, the Mindrazer | Illustration by Mark Winters
A Grixis precon is a 100-card deck created by Wizards of the Coast for the Commander format, specifically with a blue/red/black color identity. There have been eight preconstructed Grixis Commander decks released in total. Each deck is playable out of the box, with one “face” commander card and two alternate choices. The face commander of each box is an entirely new legendary creature, and at least one of the alternates is, as well.
#8. Masters of Evil
Masters of Evil is the Grixis Commander deck from 2023’s Doctor Who set, headed by Davros, Dalek Creator.
Deck Themes
Masters of Evil focuses on the villainous choice mechanic, where you force an opponent to choose from two distasteful options. Davros, Dalek Creator, for example, forces an opponent to choose between you drawing a card or them discarding one. As a Universes Beyond set, all of the cards are designed to be representative of the characters from the Doctor Who universe.
Commanders
Davros, Dalek Creator is the face commander of the deck. It’s supported by Missy, and to a lesser extent Ashad, the Lone Cyberman.
Of the three Grixis-colored legendary creatures, Missy is your best bet as the strongest commander in the box. Its villainous choice can actually result in a victory, whereas Davros and Ashad merely beef up your board.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Masters of Evil is at its best when it can stick a bunch of artifact creatures to the field and attack with them every turn. Cards like Cyberman Patrol and Cybermen Squadron reward you for playing a lot of artifact creatures, and with Missy on the field you’ll turn those Cybermen and Daleks into direct damage each turn.
Where this deck whiffs is in a similar vein to other Universes Beyond decks: In an attempt to stuff the deck full of every possible character from the Doctor Who universe that could even conceivably fit this color combo, it’s packed to the brim with legendary creatures that don’t do much to further your game plan and instead exist for players to pluck from the deck and build around separately.
Notable Cards
Delete is a fun board wipe for artifact decks. This deck also includes a new art print of Solemn Simulacrum, something we only get every once in a while.
- BIGGER ON THE INSIDE—Bring your favorite Doctor Who characters, villains, and adventures to life at your table with this Magic: The Gathering Commander Deck; each deck introduces 50 never-before-seen Magic cards with art and game mechanics inspired by the beloved BBC series
- TRAVEL THE STARS WITH A GAME THAT FUSES ART, STORIES & STRATEGY—Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that weaves deep strategy with art and mechanics that explore the themes of a particular world and story—whether you want to play a casual game with friends, collect cool cards, or get competitive, Magic welcomes you to The Gathering
- EXTERMINATE YOUR OPPONENTS—This ready-to-play deck allows you to jump right into Magic’s most popular format. Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
- BATTLE AS THE BADDIES—The Masters of Evil MTG Commander Deck allows you to team up with the Doctor’s greatest foes with a 100-card deck featuring fan-favorite Doctor Who villains
- TRAVEL THROUGH TIME & SPACE WITH PLANECHASE—Every deck also comes with 10 Planechase cards, each featuring a different place (and time) in the Doctor Who universe; roll the included planar die and you may travel to a different place or trigger a chaotic effect!
#7. Ahoy Mateys
Ahoy Mateys is a pirate-themed Grixis Commander deck from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.
Deck Themes
Ahoy Mateys centers on the pirate creature type, which was already shown a lot of love in our original foray into Ixalan. The deck focuses on playing pirate creatures, recurring them with Admiral Brass, Unsinkable, stealing creatures and permanents, and generating Treasure tokens to keep the party rollin’.
Commanders
Admiral Brass, Unsinkable is the face commander for this deck, supported by Don Andres, the Renegade. While Don Andres’s ability is really cool and unique, the deck isn’t built to support a “steal things” theme completely, so you’re better off running Admiral Brass right out of the box.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Ahoy Mateys has just about every pirate you’d possibly need to start your own pirates typal deck. From the generic lord Admiral Beckett Brass to Breeches, Brazen Plunderer, there’s no lack of pirate synergies here.
Where this deck falls short is its diversity – you’re pretty much locked into playing a pirates deck no matter how you slice it. While Don Andres, the Renegade doesn’t necessarily need other pirate creatures to go off, the deck is almost entirely pirate creatures, Ahoy Mateys won’t be popping off without some serious deck edits.
Notable Cards
Ahoy Mateys introduced several new pirate typal staples, including Francisco, Fowl Marauder, Gemcutter Buccaneer, and Skeleton Crew.
- IT’S OKAY TO GO A LITTLE OVERBOARD—Put Pirates in the graveyard and bring them back bigger with the unsinkable Admirable Brass
- INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 10 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the The Lost Caverns of Ixalan set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
- EPIC MULTIPLAYER BATTLES—Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
- JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF IXALAN—Explore the cavernous depths beneath Ixalan in a race to the hidden core. Will you uncover treasure and glory, or will your adventure spell certain doom?
#6. The Hosts of Mordor
The Hosts of Mordor comes from the Tales of Middle-earth Commander decks and features Sauron, Lord of the Rings and an army of orcs, goblins, and wraiths.
Deck Themes
The Hosts of Mordor focuses on the villains of the LOTR series, with goblins, orcs, and dragons, and all the named baddies like Gríma, Saruman's Footman and Saruman, the White Hand.
Commanders
Sauron, Lord of the Rings is the face commander of this deck, with Saruman, the White Hand as a potential alternate. Both focus on the amass mechanic to create an Orc Army token, with Sauron giving you a one-time amass orcs 5 and Saruman letting you amass for each noncreature spell you cast.
Of the two, I’d recommend Sauron, Lord of the Rings as your commander out-of-the-box. There are 27 creatures in this deck, so they’re the majority of the spells you’ll see. They increase the likelihood that Saruman won’t trigger each turn and that Sauron will have something to reanimate when it hits the field.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck is absolutely great at destroying stuff. Blasphemous Act, Decree of Pain, Feed the Swarm, Languish, Living Death, and Bitter Downfall account for six removal spells for creatures alone in this deck.
But this deck struggles with mana. Even with 38 lands and 8 mana rocks, Grixis decks struggle to cast those 8+ mana spells, and this deck is chock-full of spells that cost 6 or more mana to cast.
Notable Cards
For spellslingers, Fiery Inscription acts as a Guttersnipe that can’t be Cast Down. For you orc amass-ers, this deck has everything essential you’ll need to build an orc army; from generic amass effects like Corsairs of Umbar to Saruman, the White Hand’s reliable amass trigger, if you want to play orcs, this is a good place to start.
- MAGIC MEETS THE LORD OF THE RINGS—Experience the beloved story of The Lord of the Rings with the strategic gameplay of Magic: The Gathering, facing off against opponents in thrilling magical battles
- EPIC MULTIPLAYER BATTLES—Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
- THE HOSTS OF MORDOR—Join the hosts of Mordor with a 100-card Blue-Black-Red deck containing 2 Foil Legendary Creature cards and 98 nonfoil cards
- INTRODUCES 20 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 20 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 special treatment cards from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil
#5. The Ruinous Powers
The Ruinous Powers is the Grixis-aligned Commander deck from the Warhammer 40,000 crossover set. It features villains from the Warhammer setting and their legions of Daemons and Chaos Space Marines. It’s a creature-heavy deck focused on creating chaotic scenarios.
Deck Themes
The Ruinous Powers focuses on demon creatures and chaos effects. Creatures like Khârn the Betrayer and Knight Rampager can shift the landscape of the battlefield randomly. Chaos Mutation lets you roll the dice to try to find a better creature off the top of your library, while cards like Venomcrawler and Mortarion, Daemon Primarch reward you for sacrificing creatures and losing life.
Commanders
Abaddon the Despoiler is the face commander of The Ruinous Powers, supported by Be'lakor, the Dark Master and several other named characters who can’t be the commander for this specific deck. Abaddon is far and away the best commander for the deck, given its broad ability benefits any play style so long as you’re dealing damage to your opponents. Be’lakor’s enters-the-battlefield effect just isn’t as useful, and having a Warstorm Surge on a body is a great way to catch everyone’s removal.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck excels at dealing damage. You have big creatures like Bloodthirster and Chaos Defiler, and support creatures like Chaos Terminator Lord, Bloodcrusher of Khorne, and Herald of Slaanesh that make your demon creatures into huge threats. With Abaddon’s cascade effect, you can snowball into huge turns in the blink of an eye, summoning your daemonic host from the Warp in an instant to crush your foes to bits.
For what this deck boasts in raw power, it lacks in diversity. Since so much of this deck is new cards themed around Universes Beyond characters, their abilities and effects are tied much closer to their lore than to the well-balanced mechanics we’d otherwise see in a non-UB set. The deck only plays one way, and that’s the way it plays out of the box. Swapping Be’lakor or another Grixis legend in won’t significantly change the gameplay loop; you’ll still be hunting for your best demons and hoping to cheat them into play.
Notable Cards
Bloodthirster was the newest extra combat card when this deck was released, guaranteeing three extra combats if no opponents could block it. Be'lakor, the Dark Master, despite its wonky ETB effect, is the perfect 3-color legend to lead any demons typal deck, as well. Finally, The Ruinous Powers introduced not one but two new Magic cards with punctuation in their names; Kill! Maim! Burn! and Blood for the Blood God!, two favorite battlecries of the World Eaters Chaos Space Marines.
- 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
#4. Maestros Massacre
Maestros Massacre, released with Streets of New Capenna, is a Grixis Commander deck that focuses on the Maestros crime family of that plane. The Maestros mechanic introduced in that set was casualty, an effect that lets you sacrifice a creature to copy a spell. As such, the Maestros Massacre Commander deck features cards that you could easily recur from the graveyard, as well as instants and sorceries you’d like to copy once or twice.
Deck Themes
With 21 sorceries and 10 instants, Maestros Massacre is undoubtedly a spellslinger deck. Cards like Army of the Damned and Damnable Pact are begging to be copied with Anhelo, the Painter’s ability, and the alternate commander, Parnesse, the Subtle Brush, lets you pass the copied spells around the table and influences your opponents to target each other with them.
Commanders
Anhelo, the Painter is the face commander for Maestros Massacre, and Parnesse, the Subtle Brush features as an alternate specific to the Streets of New Capenna Commander decks. The deck also includes Cormela, Glamour Thief, from the main SNC set, and a third new legend in Syrix, Carrier of the Flame. Syrix is perfect for leading a phoenix-themed Commander deck, but it lacks the blue pip needed to be in charge of this one.
Anhelo is the best commander for this deck. You can sacrifice every other creature in the deck to its casualty ability, and the guaranteed copy effect means Parnesse plays better with your commander, rather than the other way around. Spells like Army of the Damned and Talrand's Invocation create the perfect 2/2 tokens for you to sacrifice to Anhelo to double up on instants and sorceries.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck has some incredibly consistent recursion in the form of Bloodsoaked Champion, Dogged Detective, and Sinister Concierge. Squee, the Immortal also makes a comeback whenever you need it to, letting you sacrifice creatures willy-nilly to Anhelo’s effect for some devastating results. Where this deck loses out the most is any form of interaction or control. Sure, you’ve got Hex, but I’ve rarely needed to kill exactly six creatures (or 12, if Anhelo copies it). No Counterspell or Negate means it’s incredibly vulnerable to board wipes and removal that targets your commander. Despite its cheap cost, you don’t want to re-cast Anhelo, the Painter every turn before you try for some copied sorceries.
Notable Cards
Syrix, Carrier of the Flame is notable for being the first phoenix commander, despite not being the focus of the deck.
Sinister Concierge and Dogged Detective are excellent recursive creatures. These soon-to-be staples would show up in sacrifice and graveyard decks across the world over the next few years.
#3. Mishra’s Burnished Banner
Mishra's Burnished Banner is one of two preconstructed Commander decks released alongside The Brothers’ War in 2022. It features Mishra, the Grixis-aligned brother from the titular war, squaring off against his brother Urza (Esper-aligned at this time, and also just as much of a war criminal as Mishra). Both decks are heavily themed around artifacts.
Deck Themes
Mishra’s Burnished Banner is themed around artifacts; playing them, copying them, and sacrificing them. A full third of this deck is artifacts, many of them with ETB or LTB effects.
Commanders
Mishra, Eminent One is the face commander for this deck, with Ashnod the Uncaring featuring as an alternate commander. Mishra is the better commander, as its ability can benefit you no matter which artifact you choose to copy and make into a 4/4 creature. Ashnod’s ability relies on you having access to artifacts with both an activated ability and an ability that requires a sacrifice to activate.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Mishra’s Burnished Banner excels at playing lots of artifacts and squeezing every last bit of value out of them. You can frequently get two ETB triggers from cards like Spine of Ish Sah, or sacrifice your Executioner's Capsule-Warform token once you’re done attacking with it.
Its biggest weakness lies in its lack of instant speed removal. While it doesn’t entirely lack removal, many of its best effects are locked behind an artifact’s ETB, meaning your opponents have ample time to respond if you waste your entire turn casting Spine of Ish Sah.
Notable Cards
Notably, all cards in the Mishra deck and the Urza deck are printed with the retro border, making them appear like classic cards from back when the Urza/Mishra storyline was unfolding in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. As such, the printings for even the commons in this deck run a touch more expensive than their traditional prints.
- Contains Retro-Frame 100-card The Brothers’ War Commander Deck - Mishra's Burnished Banner (Blue-Black-Red)
- Every card in the deck is Retro-Frame, with 2 Traditional Foil Retro-Frame Legendary cards + 98 Nonfoil Retro-Frame cards
- 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack—contains 1 special treatment card of rarity Rare or higher and at least 1 Traditional Foil Retro-Frame Artifact card
- Accessories - 1 Traditional Foil Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens, life tracker, and deck box
- Extract every bit of advantage by sacrificing artifacts with the ruthless artificer, Mishra.Ready-to-play deck introduces 10 MTG cards not found in the BRO main set
#2. Arcane Wizardry
No products found.Commander 2017 was WotC’s first shot at an entirely creature-type themed Commander release, with No products found. as the wizards-themed Grixis deck.
Deck Themes
Arcane Wizardry revolves around wizard creatures. Its commander’s eminence effect lets you copy any nontoken wizard you control entering the battlefield for 1 mana, exiling it at the next end step à la Flameshadow Conjuring. Generally, it makes use of its wizard creatures’ abilities to control the battlefield before using Inalla, Archmage Ritualist’s activated ability to hit players for 7 life at a time.
Commanders
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is this deck’s face commander. It’s superior in every way to Mairsil, the Pretender, just based on its eminence effect. Any time you can get away with a beneficial ability without playing your commander is a win in my book!
Technically, Kess, Dissident Mage was also newly released with this Commander deck, but I don’t believe it was billed as an alternate commander. It wouldn’t function as well, either, considering most of this deck is creatures.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This precon deck’s greatest strength is its variety. The 31 wizard creatures all have different abilities with different uses, making it a pseudo toolbox deck masquerading as a wizards tribal deck. You’ve got Apprentice Necromancer for recursion, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and Arcanis the Omnipotent for card draw, and Magus of the Abyss and Galecaster Colossus for removal.
Where Arcane Wizardry lags is in instant-speed interaction. You’d think a deck based around arcane and unknowable wizards would include at least a few Counterspells, but there’s not a one to be found!
Notable Cards
Kess, Dissident Mage was first printed here before migrating over to Modern Horizons. Shifting Shadow’s unique polymorph effect wasn’t reprinted until Neon Dynasty Commander.
No products found.
#1. Mind Seize
Mind Seize is the Commander 2013 Grixis deck headed by Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge and featuring Nekusar, the Mindrazer as an alternate commander.
C13 introduced some mechanics specifically built for Commander, like tracking how many times a single commander card has been cast and interesting ways to move commanders out of the command zone.
Deck Themes
Mind Seize was a control deck. With Jeleva at the helm, it controls the battlefield with instants, sorceries, and support cards. Guttersnipe, Mirari, and Echo Mage are some examples of spellslinger cards in the deck. With Nekusar at the helm, the deck wants to focus on wheels and draws to maximize the damage it can deal each turn.
Commanders
The two new commanders introduced in Mind Seize were Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge and Nekusar, the Mindrazer, with Thraximundar getting a reprint as the third alternate commander. Of these three, Nekusar has seen the most play and is indeed one of the most popular Grixis commanders of all time, with over 21,000 decks logged on EDHREC. While the deck lacks the consistency a tuned-up Nekusar deck has, it still functions relatively well with it at the helm instead of Jeleva.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Mind Seize is from pretty early in the history of official Commander products, so the deck list mostly serves as a showcase for what Commander design can do, rather than an incredibly effective strategy. Still, the sheer advantage Nekusar, the Mindrazer can generate alone and the high number of Prosperity-style draw effects mean this deck isn’t helpless. Jace's Archivist gives Nekusar a repeatable way to reliably deal 7 damage to each opponent every turn, but the deck often drops the ball by running advantage spells that don’t say “draw” (specifically, Strategic Planning instead of Ponder or Brainstorm).
Notable Cards
True-Name Nemesis was a huge deal when it was released in this deck. A Legacy-legal card, True-Name Nemesis was almost impossible to remove in a 2-player format.
Commander 2013 also saw the introduction of curse auras built for Commander, with Curse of Chaos, Curse of Inertia, and Curse of Shallow Graves all making their first appearance in this deck. These are much weaker than the curses we typically see now (Curse of Disturbance just straight-up outclasses Curse of Shallow Graves).
- Magic the Gathering - Commander 2013 - Mind Seize Deck
Commanding Conclusion
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist | Illustration by Yongjae Choi
Grixis has always been the color combo for all you villainous planeswalkers out there, and these precons are a great way to dip your toe in for the villain-curious amongst you. Each has different strengths and weaknesses and playstyles; just because a deck is rated lower on this list doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to play!
What are your favorite Grixis precons? And which alternate commander from a precon was your favorite? Let me know in the comments or over on the Draftsim Discord!
Thanks for reading!
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