Cards You Should Stop Auto-Including in Every Commander Deck

There's a disease in Commander deck building. It goes like this: open EDHREC, look at the top cards, jam all of them into your deck, call it done.

The result? Every deck starts looking the same. Thirty "staples" that show up regardless of strategy, leaving you maybe 30-35 flex slots to actually build around your commander. That's not deck building. That's filling in a template.

Here's the thing most content creators won't say out loud: a lot of so-called staples are mediocre in most decks. They're popular because they're popular, not because they're the best choice for YOUR specific 99.

Let's talk about the cards you should stop auto-including and what to think about instead.

Sol Ring: yes, really

Before you close this tab, hear me out. Sol Ring is the best card in Commander. Nobody is arguing that. But thinking about Sol Ring is a useful exercise in understanding WHY cards are good, which matters more than just knowing THAT they're good.

Sol Ring is incredible on turn 1. It's strong on turn 2. By turn 5, it's a colorless Marble Diamond with no fixing. In a three-color deck desperate for colored mana on turn 6, drawing Sol Ring feels like drawing a land that doesn't tap for any of your colors.

The card goes in every deck. Fine. But understanding that even the best card in the format has diminishing returns is the mindset you need for the rest of this list.

Solemn Simulacrum is living in 2015

Solemn Simulacrum was incredible when Commander was slower. A 2/2 that ramps and draws a card? Sign me up. Except the format got faster, and Sad Robot didn't keep up.

Four mana for a 2/2 body, one basic land (tapped, by the way), and a death trigger you might see three turns later. Compare that to what your opponents are doing on turn 4 in 2026: they're dropping Bello, Bard of the Brambles, Caesar, Legion's Emperor, or Teysa, Opulent Oligarch.

You're spending turn 4 on a ramp spell that puts a land into play tapped. Your opponents are winning the game.

When it's still good: Blink decks where you're flickering it repeatedly with Thassa, Deep-Dwelling or Conjurer's Closet. Sacrifice decks where the death trigger is consistent. Artifact-matters decks where the body counts. Otherwise? Replace it with a 2-mana ramp spell and a 2-mana draw spell. You'll be better off.

Kodama's Reach and Cultivate: the sacred cows

This one gets people angry. Kodama's Reach and Cultivate are fine cards. They are not auto-includes.

Three mana to put one land into play tapped and one into your hand. In a deck with green, you probably have access to Three Visits, Nature's Lore, Into the North, or Sakura-Tribe Elder at two mana. Those cards get you a land into play (untapped, in many cases) a full turn earlier.

The argument for Kodama's Reach is "but you get two lands!" Sure. One tapped on the battlefield and one in hand. For three mana. In the same color that has

ramp spells that put lands into play untapped.

When they're still good: Landfall decks, where getting two land drops matters more than efficiency. Three or more color decks that need fixing badly. Decks with a high curve that genuinely need to hit land drops 5 and 6. Budget decks where you don't own the 2-mana alternatives.

Rhystic Study: the "did you pay the 1?" tax

Rhystic Study is a $40 card that draws zero cards if your opponents are competent. That sentence alone should make you think twice.

In a casual pod where people forget triggers and tap out without thinking, Rhystic Study is absurd. You'll draw 8-10 cards a game easily. But as your pod's skill level increases, opponents learn to hold up

for important spells. At a focused table, you're paying for an enchantment that maybe draws 2-3 cards over the course of a game.

There's also the social cost nobody talks about. "Did you pay the one?" fifty times per game makes you the annoying player at the table. People start targeting you not because of your board state, but because they're tired of hearing the question.

When it's still good: Casual pods. Stax builds where you're already taxing opponents. Enchantress decks where it's also an enchantment trigger. At focused or high-power tables, consider Mystic Remora (which draws cards off NON-creature spells, hits more spells at higher power), Consecrated Sphinx, or even a simple Blue Sun's Zenith instead.

Smothering Tithe: the $40 do-nothing enchantment

Four mana. Does nothing the turn it comes down. Needs your opponents to draw cards (which they were doing anyway) and choose not to pay

.

Smothering Tithe is a powerful card in the right deck. But at four mana with no immediate board impact, it's a liability in any game where tempo matters. You tap out on turn 4 for an enchantment, and the Krenko, Mob Boss player across from you goes wide and kills you before you make a single Treasure.

The card is at its worst in aggressive decks that want to be spending mana on threats, not passive value engines. And at competitive tables, opponents just pay the

and your expensive enchantment generates maybe 1-2 Treasures per turn cycle.

When it's still good: Orzhov and Boros decks starved for ramp. Token strategies that care about artifact count. Combo decks using Treasures as a win condition. Slower, grindy control builds where the long-term value matters.

Beast Within: "flexible" isn't always "good"

Beast Within destroys any permanent at instant speed for

. Sounds incredible. Except you're giving an opponent a 3/3 body, and in a creature-heavy format, that 3/3 is more relevant than people think.

Green's real removal options have gotten much better. Nature's Claim hits artifacts and enchantments for one mana. Force of Vigor is free. Kenrith's Transformation neutralizes a commander while drawing you a card. The question isn't "can Beast Within handle everything?" It's "do I need to handle everything with one card, or can I run better targeted answers?"

When it's still good: Mono-green decks that literally have no other way to deal with enchantments and planeswalkers at instant speed. Decks in metas where you need to answer Thassa's Oracle at instant speed and have nothing else. Otherwise, you probably have better options.

Command Tower: actually, this one's fine

Just checking if you're still reading. Command Tower goes in every multicolor deck. No notes.

The real problem: building by committee

EDHREC is an incredible resource, but it has a bias: it shows you what's popular, not what's optimal. A card with 80% inclusion doesn't mean it's correct in 80% of decks. It means 80% of people building that commander put it in. Those are wildly different statements.

The best Commander decks are built with intention. Every card should answer the question: "What does this do for MY specific game plan?"

If the answer is "well, it's a staple," that's not good enough. Staples are starting points, not answers. Your deck has 99 slots, and every slot you spend on a generic good card is a slot you're not spending on a card that specifically advances your strategy.

How to actually evaluate a "staple" for your deck

Here's a quick framework. Before adding any popular card, ask:

1. Does my commander care about this card? A sacrifice commander wants sacrifice outlets more than it wants generic card draw. A spellslinger commander wants cantrips more than it wants creature-based ramp.

2. What turn do I want to cast this? If a card is best on turns 1-3 but you're adding it as your 55th card, you'll usually draw it on turn 7 when it's mediocre.

3. What's the opportunity cost? Every "staple" you include is a synergy piece you're cutting. That 37th land or that pet card that actually works with your commander might be better than generic good stuff card #12.

4. How does this card perform when you're behind? Lots of staples are win-more cards. Drawing extra cards is great when you're ahead. When you're behind, you need answers and catch-up mechanics, not more value.

Use GrimDeck's deck builder to track your card choices and easily swap cards in and out as you test. Having your full collection tracked makes it easy to see what alternatives you already own.

The takeaway

Stop building decks on autopilot. The format is too deep and too interesting to jam the same 30 cards into every shell. Challenge yourself to justify every inclusion based on your specific strategy, not on what the internet says is good.

Your deck will be more focused, more fun to play, and more uniquely yours. And you might find that the "staple" you cut for a weird synergy card is the reason you win games nobody expected you to win.