Deck-Building Fundamentals: The Ratios That Actually Matter
1 July 2026
A Commander deck is 99 individual choices, but almost every deck that "doesn't work" is missing the same handful of things. Before you worry about synergy, get these five ratios right.
Mana curve
Aim for a curve that's heaviest at 2–3 mana and tapers off sharply past 5. A rough target for a 99-card deck:
- 1 mana: 5–8 cards
- 2 mana: 12–15 cards
- 3 mana: 12–15 cards
- 4 mana: 8–10 cards
- 5 mana: 5–8 cards
- 6+ mana: 5–8 cards (your commander and a handful of bombs)
If your curve peaks at 5 or 6, you'll flood on lands you can't use and lose to decks that are doing things on turn 2.
Ramp: 8–10 pieces
"Ramp" means anything that lets you cast spells ahead of schedule — mana rocks, dorks, land ramp spells. Ten pieces is the baseline; go higher in green decks or decks with an expensive commander you want out early, lower in low-curve aggressive decks that don't need it.
Card draw: 8–10 pieces
Commander is a long game and your opening seven will not carry you to turn 12. Repeatable draw (enchantments, planeswalkers, activated abilities) is worth more than one-shot draw spells, because it keeps working after your hand runs out.
Removal: 8–10 pieces, split between targeted and board wipes
Split roughly 6–7 targeted removal/interaction spells and 2–3 board wipes or catch-up effects. Too little removal and you can't stop another player's plan; too many board wipes and you'll blow up your own board along with theirs.
Win conditions: 2–4, not 15
Pick two to four ways you actually intend to win, and build the rest of the deck to support them. A deck where every card is a "maybe this wins the game" card usually can't reliably do any of them. Redundancy in your plan (multiple ways to execute the same strategy) beats redundancy in random threats.
Lands: 36–38
Non-negotiable. Commander games go long, and running fewer than 36 lands is the single most common reason decks feel like they "never draw anything."
Get these five right and the deck will function even before you've optimized a single synergy package — see the Archetype Guides for what to build once the foundation is solid.