Starter Commander Decks (SCD): Set Guide
If you've ever wanted to hand a friend a Commander deck and say "here, just play this" - Starter Commander Decks were built for exactly that moment.
Released on December 2, 2022, the Starter Commander Decks (set code: SCD) are a purpose-built entry point into Commander, Magic's most popular format. At around $21 per deck, they sit comfortably below most other preconstructed Commander products, making them one of the most accessible ways to get someone to the table.
What are the Starter Commander Decks?
The Starter Commander Decks are a set of five preconstructed Commander decks, each sold separately or together as a bundle. They were designed specifically with beginning players in mind - the goal being a ready-to-play, low-barrier introduction to the Commander format without the deck-building homework.
What makes this product stand out is its color structure. This is the first Commander product where each of the five decks represents a different allied color pair - the classic two-color combinations that sit adjacent on Magic's color wheel (white-blue, blue-black, black-red, red-green, and green-white). That's a notable first for Commander precons, which have more often leaned on three-color or mono-color identities.
Format check: Commander (also called EDH) is a 100-card singleton format where one Legendary Creature serves as your Commander. Each of these decks is legal in Commander out of the box.
What's in each deck?
Every Starter Commander Deck comes with:
- 1 foil Commander card
- 99 regular cards (completing the 100-card deck)
- 10 double-sided tokens
- Punch-out counters
- 1 deck box
The foil Commander is a nice touch for a budget product - it gives the deck a premium feel right out of the wrapper, and makes it immediately clear which card is meant to lead the charge.
Who are these decks for?
Honestly, the name says it all. These are starter decks in the most literal sense - they're designed to teach new players how Commander works, not to compete at an optimised table. If you're a veteran player looking for powerful new cards or Commander staples, this probably isn't the product for you.
But if you're introducing a partner, a sibling, or a new player at your local game store to the format? A $21 deck with a deck box included is a genuinely generous starting point. The allied color pairs also make for a natural introduction to Magic's color philosophy, since paired colors tend to share thematic and mechanical overlap that's easier to grasp than three-color combinations.
Set legacy
The Starter Commander Decks occupy a quiet but meaningful place in Commander's history. Wizards of the Coast had produced Commander precons for years at increasingly higher price points, and SCD represented a deliberate step in the other direction - a budget-first product that prioritised accessibility over power level.
The decision to build around allied color pairs, a first for Commander precons, is worth noting as a design choice. It signals an awareness that new players benefit from focused, coherent deck identities, and that two-color synergies are easier to understand and build around than three-color ones.
In my view, the Starter Commander Decks are best understood as a handshake - a low-stakes, low-cost introduction to a format that can otherwise feel overwhelming to step into for the first time. ✨
