Magic: The Gathering – 10 Underrated Mono-Blue Commanders

Wisdom, control, and logic define the style of mono-blue play in Magic: The Gathering. Preferring tactics over pure strength, mono-blue usually results in very tactical builds, requiring a solid knowledge of the cards in your deck and the patience to see your strategy through to the end. Preferring to play the long game rather than come out of the gates running, mono-blue thrives in the mid and endgame when they've taken control of the battlefield.

Far down the ladder of mono-blue commanders lie spell slingers and stitchers just waiting for a deck of their own. With cards to be drawn and spells to be slung, these underrated commanders sure pack a punch.

10 Kopala, Warden of Waves

While creatures like Kumena, Tyrant of Orzeca may be the first who comes to mind as the leader of a Merfolk deck, Kopala, Warden of the Waves offers consistent protection for all of your Merfolk creatures. Making all spells and abilities that target Merfolk you control cost two more mana; players will have to think twice if they want to spend their precious extra mana to remove your permanents.

Couple this with the enchantment Propaganda, and you'll have your own Magic: The Gathering toll booth set up, forcing opponents to spend extra mana anytime they want to target your board. Of course, this won't work against board wipes, but Kopala will certainly limit the targeted removal on your side of the playing field.

9 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner

It wouldn't be mono-blue if there wasn't countering going on, and Kira, Great Glass-Spinner does just that. Kira offers incredible protection, granting each of your creatures an ability wherein the first spell or ability that targets them each turn is countered. So with Kira in play, the only way to remove your creatures without wasting a spell is with a board wipe or forcing players to sacrifice or return cards to their hand/library.

Be sure to add more counterspells to lean into the counter theme, as you'll want to protect your board long enough to get out your big creatures like Hullbreaker Horror. Guile is particularly powerful in this deck, allowing you to exile any spell you would counter and cast it yourself for no mana.

8 Venser, Shaper Savant

A great option if you're looking for a mono-blue blink deck, Venser, Shaper Savant allows you to return a spell or permanent to its owner's hand when he enters the battlefield. As an added bonus, this commander also has flash, allowing this ability to double as protection. If one of your valuable spells is being targeted, you can simply cast Venser to return it to your hand.

Like any blink deck, you'll want to include cards with enter the battlefield effects, such as Aether Channeler. Naban, Dean of Iteration is also very important in this build as it allows you to get an additional trigger off of any enter the battlefield effect, doubling the effect of Venser's ability. Of course, this commander doesn't altogether get rid of dangerous permanents, but forcing opponents to recast their important spells will certainly slow their strategy down.

7 Teferi, Mage Of Zhalfir

Everyone's favorite time-bending planeswalker gets his shot as a commander as Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. Granting all of your creatures that aren't on the battlefield with flash means control creatures like Scourge of the Fleets can be cast at instant speed. This is a huge advantage, being able to cast blockers at the end of the declare attackers step and simultaneously build your army while benefiting from the control effects of creatures like Cyclone Summoner.

If that wasn't good enough, your opponents are helpless to stop you from doing this, as Teferi only allows them to cast spells at sorcery speed. True to his time-altering abilities, Teferi speeds up your deck and slows down your opponents.

6 Kaho, Minamo Historian

While not technically a tutor card, Kaho, Minamo Historian functions very similarly to a tutor, allowing you to search for and remove from the game three instants from your library whenever she enters the battlefield. You can then tap her and pay the converted mana cost in any combination of mana to play those instants.

You're essentially putting your most important instants on standby for when you need them most. Of course, their use depends on controlling Kaho, so she'll need some protection. Luckily, blue is full of ways to counter and protect her, such as Planar Incision, so you should have no problem ramping up into your biggest blue spells.

5 Empress Galina

Empress Galina is focused on having all the legendary permanents to herself. For a lot of decks, the commander will be crucial to their win condition, so being able to take control of it by simply tapping and paying two mana is a massive advantage. While you're only able to steal legendary permanents with Galina, there are many other cards in mono-blue, like Blatant Thievery, that will let you take control of any creature you want.

Or you can use Leyline of Singularity to make all permanents legendary. Furthermore, protection cards like Shore Up not only give Galina Hexproof but allow you to untap her, which means you can activate her ability twice in one turn if you have the mana for it.

4 Gadwick, The Wizened

Gadwick, the Wizened is the dictionary definition of a mono-blue card. He offers card draw and control. While casting him, you can pay X mana to draw that many cards when he enters the battlefield. Additionally, whenever you play a blue spell, you get to tap a nonland permanent an opponent controls. Even if you don't pay anything for his X cost, you still get a very effective form of control from his second ability.

Cards like Verity Circle will let you draw a card whenever you tap a creature an opponent controls using this ability. For some extra power on your side of the board, include Willbreaker, who takes control of any creature an opponent controls when they become the target of a spell or ability you control.

3 Deekah, Fractal Theorist

Deekah, Fractal Theorist is all about casting and copying massive blue spells, allowing you to create an X/X Fractal creature token whenever you do, with X equaling the spell's converted mana cost. Blue decks have sometimes been frowned at for having a lot of huge spells to draw and counter with but no way to reliably win. Deekah breaks the mold, allowing you to cast splashy spells like Dig Through Time, where you get card advantage and also create a 7/7 creature.

You'll want to include enchantments like Metallergic Summonings to create Constructs when you cast an instant or sorcery. Swarm Intelligence will also let you copy any instant or sorcery you cast, doubling the amount of Fractal creatures you get.

2 Stitcher Geralf

Tired of the same old Dimir Zombie decks? Stitcher Geralf is a great option to leverage the power of the undead. In mono-blue, there are still so many powerful Zombie cards, and Geralf's ability can create absolute monstrosities. Forcing each player to mill three cards, you then get to exile any two of those cards and create X/X Zombie creature token, with X being the combined power of the cards you exiled. With 12 cards to choose from in a multiplayer game, chances are you're going to hit it big.

Blue offers fantastic support for Zombies with cards like Geralf, Visionary Stitcher, who gives all of your Zombies flying. Give your massive Zombie tokens wings and watch your opponents' life totals plummet.

1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation

It wouldn't be blue without some sort of artifact deck, and Padeem, Consul of Innovation cares about artifacts a lot. So much, in fact, that he gives all artifacts you control hexproof. Thopter Spy Network and Efficient Construction will help you assemble an army of Thopters to hold the line until you can cast your big artifact creatures like Darksteel Juggernaut.

Additionally, Padeem's second ability generates consistent card draw, as you'll likely be the player with the highest mana value artifact on the battlefield.

Source: Read Full Article