Need Help Finding a New Commander

[Bonethousand]

Timmy here. I'm tired of slamming big creatures and building giant battle cruisers to attack in with, but I still love splashy stuff and not breaking my brain thinking about combos/the stack.

What are your recommendations for fun commanders with unique playstyles/win-cons?

I get exhausted trying to look through all the new legendary creatures, so I thought I'd poll the masses.

[Morganator 2.0]

Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

This guy uses cards you've never seen in commander before, and makes them work. Thoughtpicker Witch, Sling-gang Lieutenant, Fume Spitter, Skyscanner and more. If you want a unique way of playing, this is the way to go.

Jacob Hauken, Inspector

It takes a lot of effort to get him going, but after that you can play whatever big-dumb blue spells/eldrazi you want. Sure, you have the option to stick with your Timmy ways, but there are other things to take advantage of as well. Feel free to explore them with Jacob.

Lagrella, the Magpie

There are some really fun things you can do with this blink strategy. With stuff like Soulherder or Felidar Sovereign you can generate crazy value off of your ETB creatures. And you get to lock away your opponents' commanders (sort of). Lagrella isn't just a deck that makes you think, it's a deck that changes the way you think.

Killian, Ink Duelist

Overcosted auras and other spells that are usually garbage end up having a place here. You know how Hex shows up in a bunch of black precons and everyone hates it? Not Killian. Dark Dabbling suddenly becomes a great protection spell. Yawgmoth's Vile Offering at 3 mana is pretty good.

Obeka, Brute Chronologist

I'm sure you can find some weird cards with "at the beginning of your end step" and stop them from triggering. Eliminate the downside, keep the upside.

The Beamtown Bullies

So you know all of those awful creatures with really harsh downsides like Eater of Days, Leveler, and Tempting Wurm? You know what to do.

[Landale]

Katilda, Dawnhart Prime is pretty fun. You can generally afford to go low on lands in that deck and stuff it in excess on humans. No need to go super big when you can just swarm people with dozens upon dozens of humans while they're still trying to set up.

Can second that Killian is fun too. Aside from stuffing it with removal you normally say "if only this costed less" about, you could go Bestow Voltron with him. Someone removes him? Well there's a whole army on your side now. Also Hatred. Just pop off out of nowhere punching someone for 21 and getting the health you spent on it back right away amuses me.

[anjinsan]

You don’t want to smash big creatures, but you still don’t want to have to think? Well, there seems like only one solution: smash big noncreature spells.

My suggestion: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. He’s a Timmy at heart. Or, a bit less original, but someone like Mizzix or Jodah.

Codie is another fun one. Spin the wheel, get something, cast it. Also lots of ways you can build him; despite the “no permanents” thing I shoved in big creatures and went reanimator with lots of draw/discard.

[Bonethousand]

Love these suggestions. Keep'em coming!

[anjinsan]

In all seriousness, Elminster probably does “big Azorius spells” better (but GAAIV is kind of funnier - people go “oh no, stax” and I’m like “where? I just want to cast big sorceries for X=lots”).

Jankier, but possibly some kind of steal deck? Especially if it lets you cast spells for free (or, honestly, cast your own spells for free, that’s as good). I’m thinking Etali, etc. With the exception of Villainous Wealth this is pretty much all Grixis - stuff like Chaos Wand, Fallen Shinobi, I guess stuff like Zareth San, the Trickster is quite similar. Cheating stuff out might satisfy your desire to do Timmy-esq things, and the randomness means you don’t have to make difficult decisions like what to cast!

I actually have a deck built around Wild Evocation, but it’s not very good.

In a similar vein, Neera, Jhoira, etc.

[Landale]

In a similar vein, Neera, Jhoira, etc.

Neera is just dumb. In a fun way. I built a deck for her that's nothing but non-creature spells, except Displacer Kitten, that pump out tokens, draw, do something when I cast, or storm. Death by infinite grapes when I get the kitty.
People are generally pretty happy to not be dealing with a blue deck that spams counterspells. Only one in there is Izzet Charm, since anything else would break her infinite loop.

[anjinsan]

Huh. Weird combo. But then, Displacer Kitten is pretty combo-tastic. Presumably you could also use e.g. Mystic Confluence, basically any modal counterspell I guess.

I suspect though that the OP may be more interested in simply casting big spells for the cost of small spells, which is why I suggested Neera. Still silly, but in a different way. 

[Landale]

Huh. Weird combo. But then, Displacer Kitten is pretty combo-tastic.

It is, but it's fun. Just have the kitten keep flickering Neera before the next spell from the "previous" Neera gets cast to cast everything over and over until you have a sufficient number of Grapeshot copies to win.

Presumably you could also use e.g. Mystic Confluence, basically any modal counterspell I guess.

I probably could, yeah. I just only have the one modal counterspell. Besides it's more on theme for a Wild Mage to randomly turn things into frogs, or moons, or something else in the opponents' decks than just "no"ing them into oblivion.

[Aetherium Slinky]

Myrkul, Lord of Bones

It's almost reanimation but not really. It's almost aristocrats but not really. It's combo if you want but not necessarily. You can just go Ashnod's Altar + Llanowar Elves to get some cool mana...enchantments?

Rituals, rocks and dorks have their own name but enchantments that ramp do not! I find this interesting.

[CleanBelwas]

I can vouch for a lot of these commanders already mentioned.

I've played Myrkul, Shirei, Killan and the Beamtown Bullies and they've all been a lot of fun for me.

Given your criteria, another commander that comes to mind that I haven't seen mentioned is Vadrik, Astral Archmage.

A Goblin Electromancer that reduces the cost by power seems a little innocuous at first, but I can say from experience that Vadrik can get out of hand FAST.

Slap a Bonesplitter and a Hero's Blade on him and suddenly all of your big splashy spells are coming down for next to no mana, and there are a LOT of very cool, very big and very splashy spells that Vadrik can help you cast.

Extra turns, draw sevens, board wipes, mass clones, mass theft and many other things besides. Whatever flavour takes your fancy.

[ApothecaryGeist]

For a deck that jams big spells, but isn't exactly aggro,


I like Yuriko, Tiger's Shadow


and Narset, Enlightened Master


Yuriko wants Big CMC spells alongside a bunch of unblockable weenies.


Narset wants all the big non-creature spells.  I once had a Narset deck with zero creatures.

[AlltheTokens]

Mizzix of the Izmagnus can be a lot of fun and gives a nice boost to pretty much any instant/sorcery based strategy.  I built an extra turn deck that evolved into a Mizzix deck.  The fact that your cheap early game control spells get you experience counters to make your late game splashy spells cheaper is just satisfying.