Commander 2017: The Complete Set Guide (C17)

Some Commander releases try to do a little of everything. Commander 2017 had a different idea: pick a creature type, build your whole identity around it, and go all-in. Released on August 25, 2017, C17 shipped four preconstructed 100-card Commander decks, each anchored to a beloved creature tribe. It was a sharp creative pivot for the series, and one that landed well with players who'd been waiting for Wizards to give tribal Commander the serious treatment it deserved.

What is Commander 2017?

Commander 2017 (set code C17), officially styled as Commander (2017 Edition), is a Commander preconstructed product released by Wizards of the Coast on August 25, 2017. It is part of the annual Commander series that began in 2011, following Commander 2016 (November 2016) and Commander 2015 (November 2015).

C17 contains four separate 100-card preconstructed decks, each ready to play out of the box. The set introduced new cards across all four decks alongside reprints chosen to support each deck's theme. The defining creative hook of this release - and what made it stand out from its predecessors - is that every deck is built around a specific creature tribe rather than a colour combination or mechanical identity.

The four decks

| Deck Name | Tribe | Colours | |---|---|---| | Draconic Domination | Dragons | Five-colour (WUBRG) | | Feline Ferocity | Cats | White/Green | | Vampiric Bloodlust | Vampires | Black/Red/White | | Arcane Wizardry | Wizards | Blue/Black/Red |

Each deck's name tells you exactly what you're getting, which I appreciate. There's something refreshing about a Commander product that doesn't ask you to decode the theming from the box art.

Themes and mechanics

The mechanical identity of Commander 2017 flows naturally from its tribal focus. Rather than introducing a sweeping new keyword to the format, C17 leaned into the existing tribal infrastructure - lord effects, tribe-wide buffs, and commanders that reward you for building around a single creature type - and pushed that space further than precons had gone before.

Each deck rewards you for playing a lot of its namesake creature type. The Draconic Domination deck, for instance, runs enough Dragons to make a The Ur-Dragon commander feel genuinely at home, while Vampiric Bloodlust supports the go-wide, drain-and-gain gameplan that Vampire players have loved since Innistrad.

Format check: All cards in C17 are legal in Commander, Legacy, and Vintage. As is standard for precon-only releases, these cards are not legal in Standard, Modern, or Pioneer unless they were also printed in a qualifying set.

Eminence - the signature new ability

The headline new mechanic in Commander 2017 is eminence. Each of the four decks includes a commander with eminence, which gives that commander a passive benefit even while it sits in the command zone - before you've spent any mana to cast it.

This was a genuinely novel design space. In Commander, your commander normally does nothing until you pay its cost and get it onto the battlefield. Eminence changed that contract: these commanders are already working for you from the moment the game begins. Each deck's eminence commander provides a tribe-relevant bonus - a cost reduction, a triggered effect, or a small buff - that fires off just from having them as your commander, in or out of play.

It's a bit like having a coach on the sideline who's making the whole team better even before they step onto the field.

Rules note: Eminence abilities that function from the command zone are static or triggered abilities with a specific clause enabling them from that zone. They do not use the stack in the same way as activated abilities, but triggered eminence effects do go on the stack when they trigger. If your commander moves from the command zone to anywhere else (hand, exile, graveyard), the eminence ability stops functioning until it returns to the command zone.

Lore and setting

Unlike mainline sets, Commander precon releases don't tie directly to a specific plane's storyline or a chapter in the Magic narrative. Commander 2017 is no different - it's not set on Innistrad or Amonkhet or anywhere in particular. Instead, it draws on the broader Magic multiverse to pull together creatures from across Magic's history that belong to each featured tribe.

That said, the tribal framing gives each deck its own flavour identity. Draconic Domination feels grand and ancient. Vampiric Bloodlust has that gothic, aristocratic edge. Feline Ferocity reads as sun-drenched and fierce. Arcane Wizardry carries the scholarly, slightly chaotic energy you'd expect from a deck full of mages across the ages.

The lore lives in the art and flavour text of individual cards rather than in any overarching narrative. For a set celebrating creature tribes, that's entirely appropriate - these archetypes carry their own weight.

Limited and Draft

Commander 2017 is not a draftable set and was not designed with Limited in mind. The four decks are preconstructed and sold as complete units. There is no booster pack product associated with C17.

If you're looking to play Limited with C17 cards, that's not really something this product supports - and that's fine. It was built for the Commander table, and that's exactly where it shines.

Set legacy

Commander 2017 is remembered fondly for a few reasons, and I think it earned that affection genuinely rather than by accident.

First, the tribal focus was well-timed. Dragons, Vampires, Cats, and Wizards are four of Magic's most beloved creature types, and giving each a dedicated, well-constructed home felt like Wizards finally taking tribal Commander seriously. Players who'd been hand-building these archetypes for years suddenly had a polished starting point.

Second, eminence made a real impression - though a complicated one. The ability generated a lot of discussion about whether making commanders powerful before they're ever cast was healthy design. Some players loved the fantasy of a commander who leads from off the battlefield; others felt it reduced the interactivity of the command zone. That debate is still alive in Commander communities today, which is, in its own way, a sign that the mechanic left a mark.

Third, C17 continued the run of Commander precons that delivered genuine reprint value and new cards worth building around - a standard the series had been building toward through 2015 and 2016. It landed well enough that the tribal template has been revisited in Commander products several times since.

Honestly, if you're a fan of any of the four featured tribes, C17 is still worth looking at as a foundation. The bones are solid, and the eminence commanders in particular remain interesting build-around pieces years after release. ✨