Commander 2017
Aug 2017
Four tribal-focused Commander decks — Dragons, Cats, Vampires, and Wizards — each with an eminence commander that provides passive bonuses from the command zone.
Buy Commander 2017 precons on TCGplayerWe may earn a commission from purchases made through this link.
Commander 2017 Precon Decks — click to analyze
The Year of Eminence and Tribal
Commander 2017 introduced eminence, a mechanic that gives commanders a passive ability even while in the command zone. This design philosophy acknowledged that sometimes the commander is more valuable as a persistent passive engine than as an active participant in combat, enabling strategies built around the commander's presence rather than its deployment.
Each of the four decks built around one of Magic's most iconic creature types — Dragons, Cats, Vampires, and Wizards — with an eminence commander that empowers the tribe from the command zone. The tribal focus gave each deck a clear mechanical identity and created one of the most beloved precon releases in Commander history, with multiple face commanders becoming highly sought-after singles.
Draconic Domination — The Ur-Dragon Reigns
The Ur-Dragon reduces the cost of Dragon spells by one from the command zone and, when attacking, draws you a card for each attacking Dragon before allowing you to put any permanent card from hand directly onto the battlefield for free. The eminence cost reduction affects every Dragon in a five-color deck, enabling enormous Dragons to hit the table significantly ahead of schedule.
The deck is a five-color celebration of Magic's most iconic creature type, featuring Dragons from across the multiverse. The curve of the deck is built around the eminence reduction — Dragons that would normally cost six or seven mana become five or six, reaching a turn where the reduction matters around turns four or five. Once the Ur-Dragon itself attacks, the free permanent placement can dump an entire hand's worth of Dragons onto the battlefield in one swing.
Vampiric Bloodlust — Edgar Markov's Eminence Army
Edgar Markov's eminence creates a 1/1 Vampire token whenever you cast another Vampire spell, even from the command zone. This passive token generation means Edgar never needs to be cast to fill the board — every Vampire you deploy arrives with a free companion. The Mardu deck plays a full suite of Vampire tribal effects and the tokens compound quickly when multiple Vampires hit the battlefield per turn.
Edgar's eminence is widely regarded as the most powerful of the 2017 eminence abilities due to its asymmetric power: Edgar generates value without ever appearing on the battlefield, meaning opponents can never permanently answer him through combat or removal. The deck applies consistent pressure through a growing army of Vampire tokens supplemented by lords, lifelink effects, and drain triggers.
Feline Ferocity — Arahbo's Combat Buffs
Arahbo, Roar of the World gives a Cat creature +3/+3 at the beginning of each combat from the command zone, and whenever an attacking Cat deals combat damage you may give it +X/+X and trample until end of turn where X is your experience count. The eminence buff applies to one Cat per combat regardless of whether Arahbo is on the battlefield, creating a reliable combat advantage from the very first turn.
The Selesnya deck pairs Arahbo's consistent buff with a toolbox of Cat creatures that each contribute different combat-relevant abilities — evasion, protection, vigilance, and trample enablers that maximize the value of Arahbo's power boost. The deck rewards attacking early and often, using Arahbo's eminence to punch through blockers while building toward turns where multiple Cats benefit from subsequent buffs.
Arcane Wizardry — Inalla's ETB Doubling
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist creates a token copy of each Wizard that enters the battlefield, which has haste and is exiled at the beginning of the next end step. This token creation doubles every Wizard ETB trigger — a Wizard that draws a card when entering draws two, a Wizard that tutors fetches twice, a Wizard that deals damage deals it to two targets. The Grixis deck is built around exploiting Wizard ETB abilities through Inalla's passive doubling.
The most powerful applications of Inalla's ability involve Wizards with ETB effects that generate mana, copy spells, or establish infinite loops. The Izzet-adjacent nature of the card pool gives the deck access to a deep bench of Wizard spellcasters whose enter-the-battlefield abilities create chain reactions when doubled. Inalla games often snowball from a single Wizard deployment into a sequence of triggered abilities that generate enough advantage to close the game.