I am not a die-hard Commander player, but I play Commander sometimes. If you’d like to say the same, but the process of buying in seems daunting, here’s a walkthrough that I wrote up for some friends recently.

Preface 1: If you just need something to play Magic with and you don’t care whether it’s unique or suits a particular playstyle, you don’t even have to bother with this guide. Wizards of the Coast sells pre-constructed decks (“precons”), usually multiple new ones every few months. Go to your local game store and tell them you want a Commander precon. They’ll get you sorted.

Preface 2: We’re going to be using the fan-built EDHREC web site. It should be noted that EDHREC decks are sourced from internet randos and there’s no guarantee that they’re any good. If you’re a total newbie and don’t know how to evaluate a Magic deck, I’m not saying you’re likely to end up with trash, but you should be aware that there’s a risk. If possible, get a second opinion before you buy.

Finding a Commander deck on EDHREC and then buying it

1) Go to https://edhrec.com/ .

2) In the menu at the top of the page, click on “Tags”, then either “Themes”, to choose a deck based on how it plays, or “Kindred”, to choose a deck built around a certain creature type.

3) Look through what’s on that page to find something that appeals to you.

If the list of themes is overwhelming, allow me to suggest:

• “Group Hug”: Your cards benefit everybody. Other players won’t be in a hurry to eliminate you because they’re benefiting from having you around. Sometimes you can use this leverage to play politics: “I’ll give you X bonus if you don’t attack me this turn.”
• “Pillow Fort”: Build up defenses that make you the hardest player to attack. Let the other players pick each other off, then, once one or two are gone, you come out of your shell and clean up whoever’s left.

If the list of creature types is overwhelming, just pick Cats. This is the internet; I don’t know what other advice you expected.

4) Click through and look at the “Top Commanders” section to find one that seems fun. Or has cool art, or a funny name. Whatever strikes your fancy.

5) Click through to that commander’s page, then click the “Decks” button in the middle column.

6) Sort by the Price column. Now, we need to pause for a moment here to talk about price. Magic is an expensive hobby. You may see some decks going for thousands of dollars. Ignore them. But at the same time, you don’t want to buy the very cheapest ones, because they may be underpowered. My highly subjective and probably unreliable opinion is that if I bought a deck off EDHREC that cost less than $100, I’d be worried about whether it could keep pace with most precons. If you have a particular playgroup that you’re going to be joining, talk to them and ask how much their decks cost, then try to match that. Or show them the deck you’re thinking of buying and ask if it seems like it can hang. But if you don’t know who or what you’ll be playing against, then yeah, I’d aim to spend at least $100, and plan to upgrade later on as you get a feel for your deck’s weaknesses.

(As I write this, the Commander brackets system has just been announced and is still in beta. Depending on how far in the future you’re reading this, that may be useful as an additional tool to help you balance your decks with your group.)

Note that the price data here is just a guess; you’ll find out your real price later. You may also wish to consider the “Salt Score”, which tries to estimate how angry the deck will make other players (higher is angrier).

7) Once you’ve found a likely candidate, click through and spend some time looking over the list. Does it have a reasonable mana curve? Fun cards and combos?

8) If you decide you like it, click one of the “Buy this decklist from” links. Card Kingdom is a single large seller whereas TCGPlayer is a marketplace that aggregates many sellers of varying sizes. You are more likely to find all the cards you need at TCGPlayer, but also more likely to get eaten alive by shipping fees.

9) Click whatever you have to click on those pages to make them search for your cards.

10) If you’re very lucky it will find all of your cards. More likely, a few will be missing. Figure out which ones are missing and decide what you want to do about them. Buy them from another source? Replace them with something similar from your collection, or borrowed from your friends’ collections? Go back and pick a different deck?

11) Once you’ve settled on the cards you’re buying, go through the checkout process. Consider adding some sleeves (check how many you’re getting per package) and a Commander-sized deckbox.

If your deck makes a lot of tokens you might also consider buying some of those tokens, but it’s not essential. You can always make your own tokens by cutting up some index cards or a CVS receipt. Using random junk as Magic tokens is a long and venerable tradition and you should never let anybody make you feel bad for it.