Commander colour identity rules punish mono-colour commanders. Here’s why it holds legends back, and how to fix it without breaking the format.

The problem with Commander Colour Identity

Imagine this you just found a really cool legendary creature that you think has legs, except for one problem: it’s in the wrong colours. This feels like it’s the most common reaction I’ve had seeing new potential commanders these past few years, and I’m certain I can’t be the only person frustrated by this.

Sivitri and her broken colour identity

Imagine Sivitri, a planeswalker in Dimir (blue/black) colours that is one of the twenty-one non-flip planeswalkers who can be your commander. There’s only one problem: her full name is Sivitri, Dragon Master… and she’s in completely the wrong colours to be a dragon commander. Where’s the red? Where’s the green? What am I supposed to do in Dimir colours for a dragon deck? Sivitri shows how Commander colour identity rules can prevent a legend from being the headliner of the deck it was supposed to lead. Of course, with dragon decks being as disgustingly oversupported as they are, it’s inevitable that Sivitri gets busted wide open. Use her -3 to tutor Hoarding Broodlord, Broodlord fetches Saw in Half, Saw doubles the Broodlord, the copies grab Thassa’s Oracle and Demonic Consultation, and the game’s already over. But hey, save some creativity for the rest of the class and don’t play this below bracket four or I’ll judge you mightily.

Spider-Punk and the mono-colour commander problem

To consider a less supported creature type, let us turn our eyes to the upcoming Spider-Man set and Spider-Punk. I touched on Hobie in our last article (link), but let’s explore the issues deeper here. My main issue is his second ability: “Other Spiders you control have riot.” On one hand, this is a flavour win - perfectly aligning with his character, even for somebody like myself who only knows about him from the Spider-verse movies. On the other hand? Well, let’s take a look.

Spider-Punk as a mono-coloured legend in Standard

Hobie feels like he’ll see Standard play, assuming that the Izzet (blue/red) cauldron meta remains strong. Slotting straight into a Vivi deck’s sideboard, forcing the issue on spell resolution as a 2-mana 3/2 in red is solid tech against anything in the meta hoping to shut down your win-lines before they hit the field.

Spider-Punk as a mono-coloured legend in Commander

It has been observed before that, as kindred decks go, Spiders are aggressively fair. We’ll be getting a lot more red-coloured spiders with the Spider-Man set drop than we ever have before, but it’s not really a creature type that’s threatening to break into the upper brackets of Commander. (I’d like to point out that I’m about to bring up Thantis, the Warweaver as the most-played spider-kindred commander with red in her colour identity, and my first thought of a card I’d want to run was quashed by colour identity rules as well!). The most commonly played spider commander is Shelob, Child of Ungoliant. A 6-mana 8/8 in Golgari (green/black) colours with upside, upside, upside and a side of upside for spider-kindred decks. Can’t run Spider-Punk in that deck, colour identity rules say no. Nineteen times less popular is Thantis, the Warweaver in Jund (green/black/red). You can run Spider-Punk in that deck (and I think it’s an excellent include, based on how Thantis works). Now, let’s consider a deck with poor Hobie as the commander. We’ve still got over a month left until set release for Spider-Man, but let’s take a look at all the spiders you can run in a Spider-Punk-led deck. Hmm. 12 cards, as of writing. Let’s modify the search to include changelings. Okay, 20 cards, including Hobie. That’s not enough. If we look at Gruul (red/green), then there are 99. Plenty to make a deck work. Spider-Punk is a clear example of how Commander colour identity rules strangle a legend’s viability as a commander.

The rest of the mono-coloured commander iceberg

We’ve taken a look at two commanders of the thousands in Magic: The Gathering. Now, let’s perform an experiment. Try this scryfall search. This gets you a list of all the one-colour legal commanders in the Final Fantasy set. Take a look through these 55 potential commanders and consider how many are crying out to be a different colour. For example, near the top we have Ambrosia Whiteheart - a landfall commander in mono-white. You could also run her as a self-bounce commander, if you were feeling particularly brave. Then, shortly after, we have Bartz and Boko: a Bird kindred commander in mono-green, for the 25 cards in the green colour identity that are birds, including Cogwork Spy. A 3 mana 2/1 with a draft-specific ability. Hardly the stuff of dreams for commander at any bracket.

The Fix to colour identity in Commander

Okay, so I’ve made the point that there are commanders out there which are hindered mightily by colour identity restrictions on deckbuilding. So what would I do to fix it? Well, the fix comes in two steps.

Allow solo non-game-changer, one-colour commanders to run an extra colour in their deck, free of charge

Spider-Punk + Green? Cool. Ambrosia Whiteheart + Green? Cool. The Cabbage Merchant + any other colour? cEDH potential.

This change is carefully implemented to let weaker mono-colour commanders strut their stuff with a bit more leeway, giving them a leg up to compete with their more colourful counterparts, who just outvalue them by having double, triple or even quintuple the available cards. It also specifically does not let colourless commanders (Eldrazi) add another colour (Green) to their lives. Nobody wants Kozilek, Butcher of Truth decks to have access to Gaea’s Cradle and Crop Rotation. Finally, the “solo” part is there to stop partner commanders like Rograkh getting access to a free colour while also running a partner commander for more colours.

Why bother changing the colour identity rules?

Commander is a format that thrives on self-expression and creativity. Loosening the rules on colour identity as outlined above attempts to provide a balance between the flavour of cards being printed (they can’t all be bangers, but they should be given a chance to shine) and the workings of the game itself. I’ve done my best to prevent the format being broken, while allowing for more space to be given to the cards most in need of it. From bracket one to five, this lets people breathe just that bit more. 

Colour identity was meant to shape Commander. Included because your deck was headed by an Elder Dragon in one of five three-colour identities. Over the years it and Magic have evolved to a point where there are thousands of legal commanders, but some of them get hidden under the rug or, at best, as “secret commanders” hidden in the 99 that you can’t truly build around as they’re missing the inbuilt protection that your official commander has from being permanently removed from the game.

Every legend deserves the chance to lead a decent deck. No matter how inconsequential the character, no matter which multiverse they come from, it’s somebody’s favourite. They should be able to play their favourite without being punished. Let’s make that world the one we live in.