Commander Anthology Volume II (CM2) Set Guide
Some of the most beloved Commander preconstructed decks ever printed - all in one box. Commander Anthology Volume II is a compilation product released by Wizards of the Coast on June 8, 2018, bundling four classic preconstructed Commander decks into a single package at an MSRP of $164.99.
It's the follow-up to the original Commander Anthology (2017), which did the same thing for a different set of four decks. If you missed out on any of these iconic precons the first time around, or you want a convenient way to gift four ready-to-play Commander decks at once, CM2 was designed with you in mind.
What is Commander Anthology Volume II?
Commander Anthology Volume II is a compilation set - not a new set in the traditional sense, but a curated collection of four previously released Commander preconstructed decks, drawn from four different Commander product releases. The full box contains 312 cards across those four decks, thirteen premium foil commanders, four 100-point spinning life counters, and several tokens.
It was sold as a complete, ready-to-play product. You open the box and you have four fully functional Commander decks straight away - no deck-building required.
Format check: Because CM2 repackages existing precon decks rather than introducing new cards, it doesn't have a legal debut in Standard or other rotating formats. The individual cards are legal in whatever formats they were already legal in based on their original printings.
The four decks
The four decks included in Commander Anthology Volume II are drawn from Commander (2011), Commander 2014, Commander 2015, and Commander 2016. Here's a quick overview:
| Deck Name | Original Release | Color Identity | Commander | |---|---|---|---| | Devour for Power | Commander (2011) | {U}{B}{G} | The Mimeoplasm | | Built from Scratch | Commander 2014 | {R} | Daretti, Scrap Savant | | Wade into Battle | Commander 2015 | {R}{W} | Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas | | Breed Lethality | Commander 2016 | {W}{U}{B}{G} | Atraxa, Praetors' Voice |
That's a genuinely interesting spread of identities - you get a Sultai graveyard deck, a mono-red artifacts deck, a Boros giants-and-equipment deck, and one of the most popular four-colour proliferate decks ever made.
Themes and mechanics
Because CM2 bundles four existing decks, there's no single unified mechanical identity - each deck plays differently, and that variety is arguably the point.
Devour for Power - Sultai graveyard
The Mimeoplasm sits at the helm of this {U}{B}{G} deck, which leans heavily into filling graveyards and reanimating or copying what's inside them. The Mimeoplasm itself enters as a copy of any creature in any graveyard, with +1/+1 counters piled on from another. It's a fascinating design that rewards knowing your opponents' decks as much as your own.
Built from Scratch - Mono-red artifacts
Daretti, Scrap Savant leads a mono-red deck built around artifacts, sacrifice, and recursion. Daretti was one of the first planeswalkers to appear as a Commander, and his ability to loot through your deck and reanimate artifacts from the graveyard made this deck a fan favourite among players who love an engine-building style of play.
Wade into Battle - Boros giants
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas commands a {R}{W} deck centred on large creatures - specifically giants and other high-power threats - backed up with equipment and combat tricks. Kalemne herself grows with experience counters whenever you cast a creature with converted mana cost five or greater, which gives the deck a satisfying sense of momentum.
Breed Lethality - Four-colour proliferate
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice leads what is, honestly, one of the most well-known Commander precon decks ever printed. The {W}{U}{B}{G} Breed Lethality deck is built around the proliferate mechanic - at the beginning of your end step, Atraxa proliferates, adding counters to everything that already has them. Planeswalkers, creatures with +1/+1 counters, poison counters - it all snowballs. Atraxa has become one of the most popular Commander commanders in the game's history, and this anthology was one of the few ways to get her in a foil treatment.
Notable cards and special treatments
One of the biggest draws of Commander Anthology Volume II is the card treatments rather than the cards themselves. All legendary cards in the set use the special Legendary card frame introduced with Dominaria (released April 2018, just weeks before CM2). At the time of CM2's release, this was a fresh and distinctive look that hadn't appeared on many cards yet.
More significantly, every primary commander in each deck - The Mimeoplasm, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas, and Atraxa, Praetors' Voice - appears as a premium foil. For three of the four, this was their first time ever in foil. Atraxa was the exception, having appeared in foil previously, but the other three were genuinely new foil versions that collectors and players hadn't been able to get before CM2.
Beyond the thirteen total premium foil commanders (the four primaries plus the nine alternative commanders spread across the decks), the set also includes four spinning life counters - one per deck - which is a nice practical touch for a product aimed at players who are sitting down to play immediately.
Lore and setting
Because Commander Anthology Volume II is a compilation of existing decks, it doesn't introduce new story or lore of its own. The four decks pull from different corners of the Magic multiverse - from the Sultai-flavoured graveyard manipulation of Devour for Power to the mechanical plane-agnostic artifact theme of Built from Scratch.
Lore aside: Atraxa herself is a Phyrexian creation, a former Mirran angel converted and rebuilt by all four Phyrexian Praetors working together - hence the name "Praetors' Voice." Her lore was later revisited and expanded significantly during the Phyrexia: All Will Be One story arc in 2023, which sent her popularity even higher. If you want to dig into that side of her character, that's where to look.
Set legacy
Commander Anthology Volume II occupies a specific and useful niche in Magic's product history. It's not a set that defined formats or introduced mechanics that rippled through the game - but that was never its job.
What it did well was make four historically significant precon decks accessible again in a single purchase, with better card treatments than the originals. For players who had missed the 2011, 2014, 2015, or 2016 Commander releases, CM2 was the easiest path back to those decks.
The inclusion of Atraxa as a foil is probably the single most-cited reason players sought out this product. She has remained one of the most-built commanders in the game for years - she consistently appears near the top of EDHREC's most popular commanders - and getting her in foil with the Dominaria legendary frame was a meaningful collector's item.
In my opinion, CM2 also represents a model that works well for Commander as a product philosophy: curate the best, present them cleanly, and let the decks speak for themselves. Whether it was worth the $164.99 MSRP depended heavily on which of the four decks you actually wanted - but if you wanted two or more of them, the math got a lot easier to justify.
