Art: Mystical Tutor
by David O Connor
This list serves as a great resource for new players to gain some familiarity with cards they may be seeing frequently!
Commander staples are cards in every color that are just universally good and played in most decks that can play them todays list focuses on very common green spells and permanents you will encounter throughout your EDH journey! Please note that this list is definitely meta / playgroup dependent although these cards are played heavily this list may not be totally accurate to your EDH environment!
Blue since the beginning has been one of the best colors in magic, this has largely stayed the same into the newer era of MTG. Blue just does everything great from controlling the board too countering spells to drawing cards. Blue is great as a main color in EDH or as a supporting color. Without Further Adieu lets look at 10 cards you will see in almost every Blue deck!
10. Pongify
If there is one thing that blue struggles with it is straight up creature destruction, Pongify answers this need perfectly. While them getting a creature out of the deal may seem like a downside it really doesn’t matter too much especially in EDH.
9. Swan Song
Swan song is a great counterspell that can only target instants sorceries or enchantments but this drawback does not matter since it only costs one blue mana to cast. The other “downside” is that your opponents get a 2/2 bird just like Pongify the value of countering a spell is much higher than a small creature. Swan song is great when you are low on mana but still want to counter a high value spell your opponent is trying to play.
8.Freed from the Real
Freed from the Real is a very common combo piece and does not have much of an application outside of that. This card is extremely powerful and can pretty much make infinite mana with anything that can produce 1 blue and any other color to infinitely untap. Freed from the Real is a build around card and should not be considered unless part of the gameplan, but since it is so easy to abuse a ton of blue decks run it!
7.Counterspell
Old school and classic Counterspell was an amazing card when it first came out and nothing has changed with that! Counterspell is at it’s core what blue represents. Just a well costed easy way to counter any spell you would like. Counterspell is pretty much an auto include in a lot of blue decks.
6. Curse of the Swine
Curse of the Swine is a great card for any meta in commander nearly every format whether it be more casual and laid back or competitive and efficient curse of the swine is an easy way to remove problematic creatures and replace them with no ability boars. Even at sorcery speed this card is still amazing and can really push the game into your favor!
5. Propaganda
Since blue is great at controlling the board propaganda is no exception. Making it so your opponents have to pay for each creature is against token strategies and any type of creature swarm type of deck. Propaganda is so easy to stick early and keep around with great effects for a long time. You may not be the most popular player with this card out but you likely wont die to combat damage!
4.Fierce Guardianship
Fierce Guardianship is a classic blue noncreature counterspell with a great edh benefit. Being able to cast this card for free if you control your commander, free things are always good and countering board wipes or targeted removal is even better. This card is played in a ton of blue decks since it is not hard to either hard cast or get it for free!
3. Thassa’s Oracle
Thoracle is an amazing creature that is played in a ton of blue decks with a major downside. The downside is that this card needs to be built into a combo shell other than that its just a pretty generic creature unless you have a low library count and huge devotion to blue. Even though it requires a specific kind of deckbuilding it is still one of the most popular and played card in EDH and thats what earns it a high spot on this list.
2.Cyclonic Rift
Cyclonic Rift is one of blues premier spells, early in the game it can get a problematic early permanent back to your opponents hand. Later in the game is where it shines being able to pay 7 mana and bounce all nonland permanents you don’t control can be devastating. Not only does it leave your opponents with nothing and you with everything it can force your opponents to have to discard down to hand size and pitch cards they needed.
1. Rhystic Study
Rhystic Study is arguably the best blue card in EDH, spells are cast so frequently and a lot of times people dont want to pay the 1 so you get that sweet sweet card advantage. Rhystic Study is a great permanent that can come down super early and give you card advantage all game. While this is a great card for you expect a few sighs when you play this on turn 3!
Thanks for Reading to the End!