Some of the most iconic color pairings in Magic: The Gathering are the ten dual-color guilds of Ravnica. Made up of each possible combination of two colors in Magic, each guil๊d ha🦩s a distinct identity, strengths, and weaknesses. While these color pairing may be popular, their usefulness in the largely beloved Commander format varies.
While a pairi🧔ng that may prosper in formats like Modern🍷 and Standard, the larger scale of the commander format accentuates the strengths and weaknesses of these guilds. So today, we're going to examine the power and viability of the guilds of Ravnica in the Commander format!
10 Boros
While Boros has definitely improved in recent years with such additions such as Feather, the Redeemed giving the pairing a much-needed boost, it's no secret that Boros is one of the weakest color pairings in Commander. As a lar༒ger-scale format, many of the strongest Commander decks are those able to accrue large forms of value through card draw and mana ramp.
Unfortunately, the red and white Boros happen to lack in both mana acceleration and card draw, tending to be a quicker and more aggressive combat-focused color combo. While this may work wonders in more standardized formats, Commander's starting life total of 40, greatly hur꧂ts many ꧟traditionally Boros strategies.
9 Rakdos
Like the previously mentioned Boros, the Red and Black Rakdos are a traditionally quick and aggressive color combo that tend to want to deal damage as quickly and continuously as possible. ꦅUnlike Boros however, due to Rakdos's access to black, decks in this color identity are able to draw additional cards with standouts such as Phyrexian Arena.
Some of the most popular Rakdos commanders are Rakdos, Lord of Riots who can greatly reduce the costs of creature spells when opponents lose life, and Anje Falkenrath, who can reliably cycle unwanted cards from its owner's hand,💟 preventing dead draws.
8 Gruul
Though Gruul are often viewed as a traditionally aggressive and creature focused color identity, Green mana acceleration helps the color combo a great deal in Commander. In addition to the phenomenal mana ꦺramp and massive creatures that green brings to the table, Gruul has access to numerous spells such as Rhythm of the Wild that make Gruul's alread♒y potent creatures all the more threatening.
When it comes to powerful Gruul Commanders, the color combo has a wide variety of distinct and useful🌌 choices such as Ruric Thar, the Unbowed who deals damage to opponent⛎s who cast troublesome non-creature spells and Xenagos, God of Revels, a god of Theros capable of doubling a creature's power.
7 Orzhov
As the Orzhov syndicate is corrupt church of loan sharks on the plane of Ravnica, this is flavorfully conveyed through a great deal of the guild's mechanics in Commander. As the white and black color pairing, Orzhove contains many mechanics that involve ꦯsucking the life out of one's 💝opponents and taxing their resources.
Orzhov players have access to a varied array of commander options including Karlov of the Ghost Co🔜uncil who can convert life gain into power, and Teysa Karlov who doubles any and♐ all death-based ability triggers of creatures under its owner's control.
6 Azorius
Few color combinations are as synonymous with control decks as the blue and white A๊zorius. Having access to a plethora of life-gain and card draw spells, few color combos are as prepared to stall out for the long game quite like Azorius. Additionally, Azorius has access to a great deal of powerful counter-magic and removal, often resulting in Azor💝ius decks being aggressively interactive.
The cherry on top is Azorius's access to commanders such as the ever s🦂alt-inducingGrand Arbiter Augustin IV, a commander who taxes all other players' spells, while discounting those of📖 its controller.
5 Dimir
Similarly to Azorius, Dimir is a color combination rife with control spells and valu▨e engines. While Dimir and Azorius have a great deal in common, Dimir simply has a more diverse group of powerful commanders to choose from.
Dimir is home to mill-based strategies with commanders such as Phenax, God of Deception and Oona, Queen of the Fae, whilst also containing exc𝓰ellent zombie-tribal options such as The Scarab God.
4 Selesnya
Though White tends to struggle in the Commander format, it flourishes when paired with Green to form the Selesnya color combination. As Commander is a large scale format with many strategies that rely on excess, Selesnya is one of the strongest color c𓆉ombos for players looking to create massive token-based armies.
As another color pairing with a great deal of variety, a Selesnya player could utilize an enchantment-oriented strategy with a commander such as Karametra, God of Harvests or Siona, Captain of the Pyleas. Additionally, between token deck options such as Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and Rhys the Redeemed, Selesny🦹a decks can come in a variety of forms.
3 Izzet
Commander is a format that is brimming with combos and alternative, non-combative means to taking out one's opponents. The red and blue Izzet are color combination that exemplifies thiಌs to a T. Between the excessive card draw and direct damage that blue and red bring to the table respectively, Izzet has a multitude of unique ways to solve its problems.
Between the Locust God who converts card draw into creature tokens, Mizzix of the Izmagnus who greatly r🔥educes to costs of instants and sorceries, and a wide array of Izzet artifact commanders, blue and redཧ players have no shortage of incredible commander choices.
2 Golgari
Graveyard-based strategies are quite popular in the Commander format, and no color combination is as synonymous with the graveyard as the green and black Golgari.
Whether a player seeks to ⭕utilize thei🎐r graveyard as an extention of their deck, treat it as an engine, or continuously reanimate their creatures, Golgari is an excellent option for a player's graveyard needs. Noteworthy Golgari commanders include the iconic Meran of Clan Nel Toth and the Gitrog Monster, both of which allow the graveyard to be utilized in a variety of ways.
1 Simic
Having access to both green's mana ramp and blue's ability to draw cards, it's no surprise that Simic ♏decks are the strongest two-color pairing in Comꩵmander.
Home to numerous strategies that allow players to simply out-v♏alue t♍heir opponents, Simic has access to numerous notably powerful commanders such as the recently printed Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, Prime Speaker Vannifar, and Erdric, Spymaster of Trest.