MTGO Commander Theme Decks
Nov 2010
The earliest official Commander precons — two Magic Online Theme Decks released in 2009 that helped popularize the EDH format on MTGO before it was printed in paper.
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MTGO Commander Theme Decks Precon Decks — click to analyze
The Origin of Official Commander Products
The Magic Online Commander Theme Decks from 2009 represent the earliest official Commander preconstructed products in Magic's history, predating the 2011 paper Commander release by two years. Released as part of Magic Online's expansion into the Elder Dragon Highlander format — the format that would later be officially renamed Commander — these two Theme Decks introduced the format to MTGO players who might otherwise have difficulty assembling 100-card singleton decks from scratch.
The 2009 MTGO Theme Decks used legendary creatures from Magic's earliest sets as their commanders — Rubinia Soulsinger from Legends and Xira Arien from Legends — connecting the new format to Magic's very first legendary creatures. These decks represent a fascinating historical artifact: the moment Wizards of the Coast first officially embraced what would become the game's most popular format.
Enchantress Rubinia — Permanent Creature Theft
Rubinia Soulsinger gains control of target creature for as long as Rubinia remains tapped, creating a repeatable creature theft effect limited only by the number of ways you can keep Rubinia tapped indefinitely. The Bant deck uses untap effects to steal multiple creatures simultaneously, or to untap and retap Rubinia to steal a different creature each turn.
Rubinia's conditional control — lasting only while she stays tapped — creates interesting gameplay decisions around whether opponents spend resources to untap Rubinia or remove her, versus accepting the stolen creature as a semi-permanent loss. With enough tap effects, the deck can hold multiple opponent creatures indefinitely while maintaining other game plans through Bant's white-blue-green color identity.
Deathdancer Xira — The Original Card Draw Commander
Xira Arien has flying and taps for one mana of each of her three colors to draw a card and deal one damage to target player — a simple but powerful design that makes her a mana-activated card draw engine stapled to a hasty flier. In 2009, repeatable card draw on a commander was an unusual design, and Xira represented one of the first efficient card advantage commanders.
The Jund deck ramps aggressively to generate the mana needed to activate Xira repeatedly, using her consistent card draw to maintain hand size while the deck's green creatures and red removal address the board. Every turn that passes with Xira on the battlefield represents a free card — over a Commander game of ten or twelve turns, that consistent advantage adds up to a significant library advantage over opponents without similar draw engines.