Last updated on April 6, 2026
Jyoti, Moag Ancient | Illustration by Brent Hollowell
Simic () might be the strongest color combination in Commander, at least at the lower Brackets. Green provides consistent access to ramp while blue enables card draw; Commander's slower pace heavily rewards resource accumulation, especially when everybody plays midrange.
That means that Simic precons likely have an edge over their contemporaries, because precons often fall into that midrange pile you expect. Besides, one of the most common problems precons face is a terrible curve, with poor ramp packages. Surely the green decks won't skimp on ramp, right?
What Are Simic Commander Precons?
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait | Illustration by Viktor Titov
Simic () precons are sealed products that contain a 100-card Commander deck, which includes a legendary creature and 99-card library, with a Simic, or blue-green color identity.
Simic is the color combination that makes numbers go up. You ramp, so you have more mana; stack dice towers of counters atop creatures; draw cards; maybe flood the board with elves. Like any color combination, it also has a few typal strategies and some spice. For the most part, Simic ramps hard and often, and it protects green threats with blue permission until its value engines out-grind their opponents.
I'm ranking these based primarily on their playability out of the box, plus the value of the cards within. I won't consider their upgradability.
#8. Reap the Tides
Reap the Tides drowns your opponent in value and the coils of Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait. It came out as one of two Commander Legends precons.
Deck Themes
Reap the Tides is mostly a good-stuff pile, with a sea monster subthemeโit has very little support for leviathans and krakens and so on, but all of its threats have one of the creature types.
Commanders
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is the only Simic legend in the deck, which saves me the trouble of explaining why other commanders are inferior to this great serpent. While other Simic legends are powerful when you build around them like Ezuri, Claw of Progress, few embody generic good stuff as well as Aesi. This commander easily dominates lower brackets, where steady ramp and card advantage are king.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Remember when I hoped that the green decks wouldn't skimp on ramp and destroy their curves? Well, I was wrong. Not only does the deck have an atrocious curve, little of its top end warrants warping the deck. Who's excited to ramp into Simic Sky Swallower? Verdant Sun's Avatar?
That assumes you draw into the few ramp spells the deck hasโsix. Seven, if you want to generously count the unreliable Coiling Oracle, and that's still less than the number of 7-mana plays in the deck. On the basis of curve alone, the deck is unplayable.
Notable Cards
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is one of the most powerful Simic commanders in the game. Simic decks often revolve around value engines that ramp and/or draw cards, and Aesi does both.
Beyond Aesi, the deck has a few notable reprints, like Nezahal, Primal Tide, Murkfiend Liege, and Ramunap Excavator. The value of the cards is as low as the playability.
- BATTLE YOUR FRIENDS. Commander is a different way to play Magic: The Gathering. It's all about legendary creatures, big plays, and battling your friends in epic multiplayer games.
- 100-CARD READY-TO-PLAY DECK. Designed as an introduction to Commander, this MTG deck is ready-to-play right out of the box, without sacrificing the richness and depth that made Magic iconic.
- GATHER THE STORM. Summon the strength of Aesi, call forth a torrent of extra cards and lands, and sweep your opponents away.
- THREE CARDS PRINTED FOR THE FIRST TIME. This Commander deck debuts three cards, plus it's loaded with reprints to kickstart your Commander experience.
- CONTENTS: 1 ready-to-play deck of 99 Magic: The Gathering cards, 1 legendary foil commander card, 10 tokens, 1 deck box (can hold 100 sleeved cards), 1 life tracker
#7. Elven Council
The Elven Council dispenses the wisdom of ages, with the guidance of Galadriel, Elven-Queen. It came out with the Lord of the Rings Commander precons.
Deck Themes
This deck has two themes: Thereโs voting, via the will of the council and secret council mechanics, and elves.
Commanders
Elven Council has quite a few potential commanders, so let's jump right into them.
Radagast, Wizard of Wilds isn't a choice. This deck doesn't care enough about expensive spells or token production to consider it. Gandalf, Westward Voyager suffers from a similar lack of support.
Erestor of the Council provides excellent voting support, but the deck only has seven cards that let players vote. I'm happy to run this with a voting card in the command zone, but you don't have enough support in the 99 to justify it in your opening hand every game.
Elrond of the White Council only triggers once, and it seems unlikely that anybody gives away their creatures. It just spreads counters around, which isn't enough.
Cรญrdan the Shipwright has some spice, but no support. This deck doesn't have any impressive permanents to try and cheat into play nor a way to capitalize on players drawing cards.
Galadriel, Elven-Queen retains the crown, largely by default. The other options are worse given that Galadriel's floor is to draw an extra card each turn an elf comes into play.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck lacks power. It isn't disjointed, and the curve is okay, but it's a bad elf deck. Twenty-five creatures is astonishingly low for elves, and it doesn't have the elfball staples that makes the archetype so feared. The ramp package is fine, but all you have to ramp into is Hornet Queen and Colossal Whale. The deck has no clear path to victory.
Notable Cards
Arwen, Weaver of Hope sets up counter synergies by spreading +1/+1 counters to your creatures as they enter and benefits from them by distributing extra counters.
Raise the Palisade is the strongest card in the deck, a typal board wipe that defends you from aggression or enables a final, lethal attack.
Galadhrim Ambush might be the most exciting elf-support card printed in the LotR set, a powerful Fog that floods the board with creatures.
For reprints, we have Asceticism, Lightning Greaves, and Swan Song as decently valuable and powerful cards.
- MAGIC MEETS THE LORD OF THE RINGSโExperience 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 BATTLESโCommander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
- ELVEN COUNCILโJoin the elven council with a 100-card Green-Blue deck containing 2 Foil Legendary Creature cards and 98 nonfoil cards
- INTRODUCES 20 COMMANDER CARDSโThis deck introduces 20 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDSโEach 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
#6. Swell the Host
Swell the Host exalts the glory of New Phyrexia with the aid of Ezuri, Claw of Progress. It came out with Commander 2015.
Deck Themes
Swell the Host is somewhat theme-less, with a few +1/+1 counter cards and a confusing sub-theme of snakes thrown in. Most of the deck appears to be generically good cardsโat least, for its time.
Commanders
This deck has three potential commanders: Prime Speaker Zegana, Kaseto, Orochi Archmage, and Ezuri, Claw of Progress.
A lack of creatures with high powerโlikely because Ezuri requires low-power creaturesโmakes Zegana a poor choice.
The snake subtheme doesn't go deep enough to justify Kaseto, Orochi Archmage. The deck has several cards clearly included because they're snakes, like Patagia Viper and Lorescale Coatl, but not enough to justify a typal commander.
Ezuri, Claw of Progress clearly wins. It's the strongest commander of the three in a vacuum, and the deck supports it with a variety of low-power creatures to amass experience counters.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Above all else, this deck's great weakness is its age. It simply hasn't aged well; cards like Arbor Colossus and Patagia Viper look mediocre in today's Commander meta, and downright pathetic compared to modern +1/+1 counter cards like Scythecat Cub and Incubation Druid.
It also lacks synergy. Part of this comes from the snakes that are awkwardly wedged in, but the deck really isn't a +1/+1 counter deck when you look closely. Few of its cards care about counters; it just has cheap creatures that trigger Ezuri, plus generically powerful cards like Ezuri's Predation and Bident of Thassa.
That said, the deck has teeth. Ezuri overwhelms games, and it's hard to interact with as you keep your experience counters when it dies. Your opponents can slow it down, but they can't stop it.
Notable Cards
Ezuri, Claw of Progress is easily the most notable card in the deck as one of Simic's most formidable commanders. If you love +1/+1 counters, this is a great one.
Ezuri's Predation sees frequent play as one of the few board wipes available to green, plus a source of powerful creature tokens.
Arachnogenesis is a strange fog that avoids the traditional weakness of the card class because it impacts the board with a swarm of Spider tokens, which allows you to blow your opponents out in spectacular and horrifying fashion.
The deck also contains solid reprints, including Eternal Witness, Caller of the Claw, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Cold-Eyed Selkie, and Bane of Progress.
#5. Quantum Quandrix
Quantum Quandrix overwhelms your opponents with math at the behest of Adrix and Nev, Twincasters. It released with the Commander 2021 precons.
Deck Themes
This deck is deeply confused about what it wants to be; the commanders beg for token support, but the 99 supports a +1/+1 counter theme. If I had to guess, the fractured themes came about because of the Fractal tokens that Simic/Quandrix cards in Strixhaven create.
Commanders
Quantum Quandrix has several potential commanders: Kaseto, Orochi Archmage, Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy, Esix, Fractal Bloom, and Adrix and Nev, Twincasters.
Kaseto and Zimone are easily rejected as their interests don't align with the deck's. Kaseto needs snakes, and Zimone wants to be in a landfall or ramp deck. Neither work with tokens or +1/+1 counters.
Esix, Fractal Bloom has potential. There are some interesting combos with it, namely Rampaging Baloths and Hornet Queen, that spiral out of control within a few turns. It isn't my choice due to its high cost and the low token production count, but I respect it.
Adrix and Nev, Twincasters is my choice, even though the deck lacks in the token creation department. It's the individually strongest commander of these four choices, and access to that raw power every game should help to smooth over the issues of discordant themes.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck's cards just don't interact with each other. It's not even a good-stuff pile, like Reap the Tide, because many of its cards rely on synergy. Incubation Druid, Kaseto, Orochi Archmage, and Ruxa, Patient Professor are just a few examples of cards that pull the deck in many directions. Conflicting or under-supported themes are a classic precon weakness, and this is one of the worst examples I've seen.
Rather like the Ezuri deck, I can see this one winning games, namely when it has the right draw to pop off with Hornet Queen or something. It plays Magic; it just doesn't do it particularly well.
Notable Cards
Adrix and Nev, Twincasters is another great Simic commander. It was the first legendary token doubler, and it holds up well.
Deekah, Fractal Theorist sees frequent play as a powerful token engine for spellslinger decks that comes with +1/+1 counter synergies, if you need them.
Curiosity Crafter and Perplexing Test are excellent token support cards.
Oversimplify is notable as a proper Simic board wipe; unlike most blue wipes that bounce creatures to hand, this exiles all of them. It leaves your opponents with Fractal tokens, so it's kind of like a super-charged Beast Within.
Guardian Augmenter demands a fairly high price as a powerful protection piece for your commander. Flash makes it an annoying combat trick that often fizzles an opposing card.
Notable reprints include Idol of Oblivion, Rapid Hybridization, and Incubation Druid.
- 100-card ready-to-play STX Commander deck (2 foil, 98 nonfoil cards)
- 1 foil etched Display Commander
- 10 double-sided tokens + life tracker and deck box
- 17 Magic cards make their debut
- Reduced-plastic packaging
#4. Quandrix Unlimited
Secrets of Strixhavenโs Quandrix Unlimited stores a lot of potential in its Simic commanders Zimone, Infinite Analyst or Primo, the Unbounded.
Deck Themes
The commanders care about X spells, creatures with base power of 0
Commanders
There are a lot of commanders that can take the lead on this deck and it shows that several make an appearance here. Each leans on ramping up to big X spells, so I'd stick with the cost reducer in Zimone, Infinite Analyst.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The power in this deck is in the pace of the game. Commander games tends to go long and that favors Zimone's ability to gain lots of +1/+1 counters and turn around to put that power toward massive plays. The glaring weakness is that your opponents get to save up their one interaction that disrupts your whole turn.
The deck works in the colors known for ramp and card draw. For those that haven't tried blue-green in EDH, this is a solid type of deck that goes big in the late game and can easily overwhelm decks just by jamming creatures and big spells. Think hydras and Stroke of Genius.
It gets high marks for lots of support throughout Magic, but can be rather predictable with a well-known play pattern.
Notable Cards
Benevolent HydraSteelbane Hydra are some of the games most popular hydras, and Nature's Lore + Three Visits are two of the best ramp spells in print because their land enters untapped. Ozolith, the Shattered Spire rings in the counter theme and Yavimaya Bloomsage slips Channel into Commander which is especially egregious when you start at 40 life.
- FACE YOUR GREATEST TEST YETโThe hallowed halls of Strixhaven welcome you back to school! Choose your college of magical study and expand your education in the greater world of Arcavios as you stand against mysterious threats plaguing the plane
- RUN THE NUMBERSโFormulate the equation for victory with Zimone as your constant variable. Cast X-spells for +1/+1 counters and ever-increasing discounts, supercharging your brainy brawling to towering new tiers!
- 2 FOIL BORDERLESS COMMANDERSโEvery Secrets of Strixhaven Commander Deck includes 2 Traditional Foil Mythic Rare Legendary Creature cards featuring Borderless art that can be played as your commander
- INTRODUCES 12 COMMANDER CARDSโEach deck introduces 12 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering
- THRILLING MULTIPLAYER BATTLESโCommander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
#3. Tricky Terrain
Tricky Terrain beguiles and bewilders your opponents within the shifting landscape ruled by Omo, Queen of Vesuva. It's part of the Modern Horizons 3 Commander line-up.
Deck Themes
This deck primarily cares about lands, with lots of tutors to assemble combos like Dark Depths and Tron, and cards that care about land types like gates and deserts.
Commanders
Trickey Terrain has a unique situation, as all four of its commanders are reasonable contenders for the command zone.
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath and Tatyova, Benthic Druid are generic lands payoffs. Tatyova is a little underpowered and Uro could use more self-mill, but they both work.
Jyoti, Moag Ancient would be better with more flicker support, but it pays half its command tax when it enters since it makes a Forest Dryad, which also helps the landfall cards and ramps into the top end.
Omo, Queen of Vesuva sits in an awkward position because half the card doesn't matter. None of your cards reward you for having creatures with multiple or even specific types. But it helps to make lands every type, specifically with the locus and Urza's lands.
None of these commanders are quite at full power in this deck, with lots of โfine, butโ statements. I'd keep Omo in the command zone for the sake of the lands, but any of these would work.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The commanders should tip you off to a weakness: The deck is rather messy. It has lots of power tucked into individual cardsโyou have Tron, and the Dark Depths/Thespian Stage's comboโbut a lot of air. It's less of a good deck than a deck with good draws, so play at your own risk and mulligan carefully.
Notable Cards
Though this deck doesn't use Omo, Queen of Vesuva to its fullest potential, it's a fascinating commander once you start to build around it.
Sage of the Maze is one of the stronger gate payoffs and simply an excellent mana dork since it taps for 2 mana with perfect fixing.
As youโd expect from a lands-themed deck, it has excellent lands. Talon Gates of Madara is the big winner as a land that doubles as interaction and ramp. Any deck that cares about land subtypes loves Planar Nexus, and I suspect Horizon of Progress deserves a slot in virtually every Commander deck due to its versatility.
The reprint quality is pretty high, with standouts that include Dark Depths, Propaganda, Apex Devastator, and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove.
- POWERFUL RIGHT OUT OF THE BOXโBattle your friends with powerful creatures and spectacular spells with a 100-card Commander Deck thatโs ready to defeat your opponents right out of the box
- SOW THE SEEDS OF DEVASTATIONโRamp up with Lands, then send your mightiest monsters out swinging with this deadly Green-Blue deck
- INTRODUCES 15 COMMANDER CARDSโThis deck introduces 15 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDSโEach deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Modern Horizons 3 set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
- YOUR NEW FOREVER FAVORITESโIntroducing a heaping helping of exciting cards plus the return of competitive favorites, thereโs something for everyone to love in Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks
#2. Jump Scare!
Jump Scare! manifests dreadful equations with the aid of Zimone, Mystery Unraveler. It came out in Duskmourn Commander.
Deck Themes
This deck combines landfall with face-down synergies, including manifest dread and morph.
Commanders
This deck has six potential commanders, with a few misses and some interesting choices.
Tatyova, Benthic Druid will never be in the conversation for a deckโs commander so long as Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is an option.
Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle and Kianne, Corrupted Memory need different support in the 99. Arixmethes benefits from cheap cards and a Voltron gameplan while Kianne wants card draw and counter manipulation.
Rashmi, Eternities Crafter is a lovely draw engine and one of my favorite commanders, but it needs more instants.
This brings us to Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait and Zimone, Mystery Unraveler. While Zimone has lots of synergy and is probably the more interesting commander, Aesi is so much stronger that you should probably play it instead if you want the deck to perform at its best.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Landfall is a broken ability. Making land drops is arguably the strongest game action you can take in Magic, so tacking on additional value creates an ugly snowball your opponents' can't outpace. This isn't a perfect deck considering that it replaced its mana curve with a mana brick, but it has excellent landfall payoffs and enough card draw that it should play well. Just try to aggressively mulligan for a hand with cheap plays, especially if you put Aesi in the command zone.
Notable Cards
They Came from the Pipes does well in Cube and Commander decks interested in a bunch of card draw and small bodies. It's also one of the strongest manifest/morph payoffs.
Giggling Skitterspike doesn't interact with Jump Scare! much, but it's a great threat for aggressive decks that pump their creatures with counters or anthems.
The standout reprints are Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, and Scute Swarm.
- QUICK. BEHIND YOU.โInvite the element of surprise with tricky instants and lay out mysterious face-down cards to keep โem guessing, then flip them over to spring your traps
- 2 FOIL BORDERLESS COMMANDERSโEvery Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander Deck includes 2 Traditional Foil Legendary Creature cards featuring spine-tingling Borderless art
- 10 ARCHENEMY SCHEMESโArchenemy pits a team of three against one player who draws from an extra deck of powerful and nefarious schemes. Each Duskmourn Commander deck introduces 10 terrifying schemes to make the table tremble.
- INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDSโ Each deck introduces fresh horrors to Magic: The Gathering with 10 never-before-seen Commander cards
- CONTENTSโ1 ready-to-play Jump Scare. Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander Deck (100 cards), 10 Archenemy cards, a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack, 10 double-sided tokens, and 1 deck box
#1. Explorers of the Deep
Explorers of the Deep conquers the rivers of Ixalan at the command of Hakbal of the Surging Soul in a deck that came out as part of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander.
Deck Themes
This deck focuses on merfolk and +1/+1 counters, brought together neatly by Hakbal making your merfolk explore.
Commanders
Explorers of the Deep has a host of potential commanders, so let's dive right in.
Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Tishana, Voice of Thunder, and Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood are interesting commanders that lack the support to shine in the command zone.
Zegana, Utopian Speaker and Nicanzil, Current Conductor are fine support pieces, but lack the power to thrive in the command zone. The same goes for Prime Speaker Zegana and Vorel of the Hull Clade.
Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca is the first serious contender, and historically itโs one of the stronger merfolk commanders. Easy access to card advantage and pressure makes for a great commander. But it's been completely overshadowed, both in this precon and the broader EDH landscape, by the deck's newcomer.
Hakbal of the Surging Soul offers everything. Ramp and card advantage is invaluable, but the ability to make each merfolk you control explore is one of the strongest typal payoffs in the game. It makes your merfolk army incredibly powerful, ensures you hit all your land drops, and enables all the best +1/+1 counter payoffs.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Typal decks often escape the conflicting themes that plague other precons, and this does so in spectacular fashion as you have almost all the important merfolk lords like Master of the Pearl Trident and Merrow Reejerey to back Hakbal and your finned army. It goes deep on both synergy and card quality to construct a formidable deck.
Notable Cards
Hakbal of the Surging Soul isn't just the best merfolk commander; it's one of Simic's strongest, and the most built per EDHREC. In addition to Hakbal, the deck gave merfolk some new tools, with Deeproot Historian and Singer of Swift Rivers.
+1/+1 counter strategies weren't neglected either: Wave Goodbye and Ripples of Potential stand out as exceptional counter payoffs.
The reprint quality is fairly high. Because the deck has so many important merfolk cards, plus the odd +1/+1 counter payoff like Herald of Secret Streams, it's an excellent starting point for anybody interested in building a merfolk deck, even if you want to use different colors. Kindred Discovery and Branching Evolution stand out as particularly valuable reprints, worth a few bucks apiece.
- NO FISHY BUSINESSโExplore the depths for lands and buff your army of Merfolk to change the tide of battle!
- INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDSโThis deck introduces 10 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDSโEach 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 BATTLESโCommander 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 IXALANโExplore 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?
Commanding Conclusion
Adrix and Nev, Twincasters | Illustration by Andrew Mar
While some of the Simic () precons leave a lot to be desired, the color pair has some excellent decks as well as decks that introduced many of the most iconic and feared Simic cards into Commander. Hopefully, future Simic precons will remember that green's the color of ramp, and your mana curve should, well, curve.
What's your favorite Simic precon? Would you play any of these? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
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