Pauper Commander, also known as PDH, has gained significant popularity among Magic: The Gathering players seeking a more accessible and budget-friendly Commander format. With its restriction to commons in the 99-card deck and the flexibility to choose any uncommon creature as the commander, Pauper Commander presents a unique and exciting deckbuilding challenge. Check out the format’s official website here. As the format continues to evolve, certain commanders have emerged in the PDH scene as standout choices.
In this article, we delve into the realm of Pauper Commander and highlight five of the best commanders that have made a mark on the format. From aggressive creature-based strategies to intricate combo engines, each commander on this list offers a distinct playstyle and opens up creative possibilities for deck construction.
Table of Contents
Tatyova, Benthic Druid
Tatyova, Benthic Druid is a legendary Merfolk Druid with the ability “Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life and draw a card.” This ability triggers each time you play a land, which means Tatyova can generate an enormous amount of card advantage and life gain throughout the game.
In Pauper EDH, where the card pool is limited to commons only, Tatyova shines due to the availability of numerous efficient land-ramp spells and utility lands. Cards like Sakura-Tribe Elder, Rampant Growth, and Cultivate allow you to quickly amass a significant number of lands, triggering Tatyova’s ability repeatedly.
The deck can further include common lands like Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, and Simic Growth Chamber to maximize the number of landfall triggers and maintain a steady stream of card draw. Since gaining life and most of all drawing cards are vital in any game of EDH, Tatyova’s ability provides immense value, enabling you to consistently refill your hand and stabilize your life total.
Deck Strategy
Due to the ability to quickly cycle through your deck while rapidly stacking up on lands, the possibilities for win conditions and strategies for this pauper commander are extensive. The most prevalent approach to playing her is assembling a winning infinite combo (using cards like Ghostly Flicker) as fast as possible, which has become her widely favored built path. For inspiration, refer to this primer.
This is a very competitive route however and if you are not fond of combos or desire a more casual path, her ability can very well support various other playstyles, such as mid-range creature decks with cards like Sporemound or even voltron strategies with cards like Adventuring Gear.
Izzet Guildmage
As a commander, Izzet Guildmage’s ability to copy spells synergizes perfectly with the wealth of instants and sorceries available in the Pauper format. By paying the appropriate cost, the guildmage can duplicate any instant or sorcery you cast. This ability grants incredible flexibility and can lead to explosive turns and game-winning plays.
Imagine copying a Lightning Bolt to deal with multiple threats, replicating a Counterspell to protect your board state, or even doubling card draw spells like Accumulated Knowledge or Think Twice to generate immense card advantage.
Deck Strategy
When building an Izzet Guildmage PEDH deck, it’s crucial to include a solid mix of low cost instant and sorcery spells that support your game plan. Cards that provide card draw, removal, and interaction are essential to maintain control and respond to protect our commander effectively. Secondly, including lots and lots of cheap artifact ramp is important, since we want to build towards finishers like Fiery Impulse or Frost Bite, that we can copy over and over again.
For a more competitive PEDH deck design, the inclusion of infinite combos will take this deck to the moon. With cards like Dramatic Reversal and some other pieces we can easily create infinite mana, and with infinite mana we can infinitely copy any spell we’d like. In other words, deal infinite damage, remove infinite creatures or draw infinite cards, depending on the spells you have on hand. Undoubtedly this is one of the best Pauper commanders in the current meta.
Armix, Filigree Thrasher + Ghost of Ramirez DePietro
Ramirez DePietro and Armix, Filigree Thrasher, make an intriguing pair of partner commanders in PEDH with their unique abilities. Armix’s attacking ability gives you insane control by being able to remove your opponents’ creatures and commander creatures, while DePietro steps in to bring those discarded cards back into action. Additionally, both commanders’ abilities synergize extremely well with strategies involving card cycling, transmute mechanics, and other discard-related costs and abilities.
One powerful aspect to focus on in your deck design is transmute cards, allowing you to fetch crucial pieces from your deck and consequently bringing these transmute cards back to your hand with DePietro’s ability. This handy mechanic facilitates consistency and enables you to access key elements at pivotal moments. Cards like Dimir Infiltrator, Drift of Phantasms and Dizzy Spell are great for this and it is almost to good to be true that these are printed at common rarity.
Deck Strategy
The primary objective of this deck is to achieve victory through commander damage, while keeping control of the board with Armix. By relentlessly pummeling opponents with your commanders, you can bring their life totals crashing down. This combat focused strategy is also what sets it apart from the other best Pauper commanders.
We can enhance this strategy by running the excellent common Cranial Plating which will synergise perfectly with our abundant artifact ramp. Crashing Drawbridge can help us get arround summoning sickness whenever we cast or recast our commanders.
These commanders are a pure combat damage powerhouse, no infinite combos are necessary so if that’s your thing, look no further. Final tip: for a slightly different take, DePietro can be paired up with Tormod, the Desecrator for some hefty token action.
Ley Weaver and Lore Weaver
Ley Weaver and Lore Weaver form a mighty duo within the realm of Pauper EDH, enabling an efficient combo strategy. With Ley Weaver’s ramping ability, she becomes an integral component of the deck’s infinite mana engine. As a natural complement, Lore Weaver assumes the role of the card draw engine. Once the infinite mana engine is online, Lore Weaver’s ability to draw an infinite number of cards becomes a game-winning advantage. Be aware, Weavers is highly competitive and might nog be received gracefully at your PEDH table.
Deck Strategy
This deck works in a straightforward way. The majority of the deck is made up out of disruptive cards like Counterspell, supplemented by card draw and ramp spells to accelerate into our infinite combo. There are various infite mana combinations possible, with the easiest being to enchant Ley Weaver with Freed from the Real. Once the mana engine is online, we utilize Lore Weaver‘s ability to force our opponents to draw their entire decks, resulting in an early win. Sounds fun? Maybe, but get ready draw some hate and lose some friends with this ruthless PEDH combo deck.
Murmuring Mystic
Murmuring Mystic is amongst the best pauper commanders currently available and can be compared to regular-edh favourite Talrand, Sky Summoner. By running an abundance of instants and sorceries, we ensure frequent triggers of its ability, allowing us to generate our flock of 1/1 Bird Illusion tokens. Notably, Murmuring Mystic’s ability triggers on cast, ensuring that a bird is created even if spells are countered or Murmuring Mystic is destroyed.
Deck Strategy
Similar to its rare counterpart, Talrand, Sky Summoner, Murmuring Mystic excels at taking control over the game by running an unhealthy amount of counterspells. This strategic approach, often referred to as a “permission deck,” grants us the authority on what our opponents are permitted to cast, providing us with a dominant position at the table.
Ultimately, this deck and its commander empower us to assert control over our opponents while simultaneously presenting them with the daunting challenge of navigating a battlefield festered with evasive birds.
Final Thoughts
While we have explored the five best Pauper Commanders in this article, the PDH landscape is ever-evolving and filled with endless possibilities. This list represents the commanders that have captured attention and proven their mettle in the PDH scene, but it is by no means conclusive. As the format continues to grow and new sets are released, fresh commanders and strategies will undoubtedly emerge, adding depth and diversity to the Pauper Commander experience. Happy deck building!
