Blue is Now the Worst Color In Commander: The Magic Color Pie, Ranked

Flooding the Commander format with the tears of blue players.

For a very long time, white was known as the absolute worst color in the Commander format. It lacked card draw, had a very hard time answering things, was casually practically a “creature-only” color, and its most powerful cards (land destruction and stax pieces) were essentially hated out by social norms outside of Competitive Commander circles.

In recent years, however, this had not gone unnoticed by the Wizards of the Coast Design team. We started seeing more catch-all answers in white like Generous Gift, card draw engines like Welcoming Vampire, and value generation from now known-powerhouses like Smothering Tithe.

White is no longer the worst color. But what is? Let’s rank all five!

#5 Blue

How the mighty have fallen. In casual Commander, blue now takes the crown as the worst color in the format. Already I can hear some readers crying out in outrage, but allow me a moment to explain. Blue has access to one of the most powerful mechanics in the entire game, Counterspells, and is one of the best colors at drawing cards.

However, blue has steadily fallen behind every other color when it comes to actually building anything resembling a meaningful boardstate, and has almost nothing in the way of answers to on-board problems. Even more to its detriment, that most powerful mechanic, counters, is much less effective in a multiplayer game. You cannot answer everything, and the surgical “removal” of a counterspell requiring that you time it perfectly is increasingly a negative.

Stuck with its most powerful tool usually being a one-for-one answer, struggling to deal with opposing boards even with a massive fistful of cards, and often lacking in creatures that can put in work, blue has finally fallen to the bottom of the totem pole after a long time sitting at the top.

#4 Red

Red and blue are actually quite close in power level, but red has gained a lot of traction in recent sets allowing it to sneak a bit higher in the overall rankings. This is due to an increase in synergistic, high-value card engines that sit solidly in red’s slice of the pie, namely treasures and “impulse” card draw effects.

Red has the same problem as blue when it comes to interacting meaningfully with opposing boards, but unlike blue at least has consistent access to mass removal— damage based mass removal, admittedly, but still enough to help them catch up in a creature-centric game. What it loses out in interaction, it gains back in its own haymakers and value pieces.

First and foremost among that value is treasure synergies. Red can now ramp up with the best of them and even has cards like Reckless Fireweaver that turn that value generation into a win condition. Similarly, red used to struggle with finding cards but we’ve been seeing more effects like Commune With Lava to dig up the best the color has to offer.

#3 White

This is just what you want to see! White was, as noted at the top here, the absolutely worst color in the format. It lacked efficient answers, its creatures were best when going wide, and worst of all it had almost nothing in the way of card advantage to speak of. This just isn’t the case anymore, so you should tuck away any idea that white isn’t good anymore.

White decks now have access to a unique array of effects and value generation engines that beat out a lot of what both red and blue have to offer. First when it comes to drawing cards we’ve been seeing more cards like Esper Sentinel. Then, for removal, white has all the classics like Path to Exile but now has Stroke of Midnight effects.

Even better, white can make it deep into the late game with the previously mentioned Smothering Tithe while still generating intense value with favorites like Sun Titan— all while defending with things like Teferi’s Protection. Design saw white was in dire straits and sought to course correct, and did so spectacularly.

#2 Black

While white has gotten good at a little bit of everything, black has honed in on what it’s good at and further refined that specialization. Traditionally, black decks have struggled to answer certain permanent types and could have trouble turning the corner against value engines, but overall this has become less of an issue with recent design.

Black is still king when it comes to taking care of opposing creatures, but it has also been given some tools to deal with other permanents as long as they’re willing to pay the price. Feed the Swarm has snuck into most black lists for a reason, and even lacking outs against artifacts has become less a concern with what black is really good at— ending games.

Building massive piles of game winning mana with the likes of Cabal Coffers, draining the table with Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Exsanguinate, paying life for value with Bolas’s Citadel and raining punishment on greedy decks with Orcish Bowmasters— black ends games better than almost any color, and can find those game enders with Demonic Tutor effects. Combined, that keeps it near the top.

#1 Green

If white does a little of everything and black has specialized, green tops out at doing both. For a while, green had many of the same issues that white struggled with. It was mostly a creature color, couldn’t draw cards to save its life, and could only close out games on the back of those creatures with cards like Overrun.

Not so much anymore. Now, green has access to some of the best card advantage engines in the game with things like Up the Beanstalk and Garruk’s Uprising fueling hands while the green player keeps building up their board. Bite effects like Rabid Bite give green access to more removal than before, and it still ramps better than any other color.

That ramp is really where the top ranking lies. Other colors rely on more easily disrupted artifact ramp while green has Cultivate and friends sitting undisturbed. Combined, green decks now have card advantage and all the mana needed to play out all that value, and in the end that’s often all you need to sink a win in Commander. That consistency places green as #1.