The whole idea behind these commanders is that they are 5 color identity, but they cast for a single color. I would like to have the ability to play a deck that's mostly one color, but runs hybrid cards, a very small splash, cards that have kickers, flashback, alternate costs. These commander ideas should be useful as a commander, and they don't require more than 1 color to be useful.
(Note the names aren't really important to me)
Houdini, the Illusionist (2)(U)
Legendary creature - Human Wizard
You have no maximum hand size.
Discard a non-land card and choose one:
(1)(U): Put a blue 2/2 illusion tokenwith flying into play.
(1)(R): Put a red 4/1 illusion token into play.
(1)(G): Put a green 3/2 illusion token with trample into play.
(1)(B): Put a black 2/2 illusion with token first strike into play.
(1)(W): Put a white 1/3 illusion with token vigilance into play.
All tokens have "if this would become the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
1/4
Edrick, the Spellbomb Smith (2)(R)(R)
Legendary Creature - Dwarf Wizard
You may cast artifacts spells as though they had flash.
Sacrifice an artifact and choose one:
(U): Draw a card then discard a card.
(R): Deal 2 damage to target plainswalker or player.
(G): Put a +1/+1 counter on target creatrue.
(B): Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
(W): Gain 3 life.
3/3
Ivy Beard, the Land's Commander (3)(G)(G)
Legendary creature - Treefolk Druid
Whenever you would draw a card, you may return a land from your graveyard to your hand instead.
(U): Target land becomes a blue 2/2 elemental with unblockable until end of turn.
(R): Target land becomes a red 3/1 elemental with first strike until end of turn.
(G): Target land becomes a green 1/4 elemental with reach until end of turn.
(B): Target land becomes a black 2/2 elemental with death touch until end of turn.
(W): Target land becomes a white 0/4 elemental with defender until end of turn.
2/5
Crowley, the Bloodemage (2)(B)(B)(B)
Legendary Creature - Zombie Wizard
Whenever a creature you control dies, each other player sacrifices a creature.
Remove a creature from a graveyard then choose one:
(U): Target creature becomes a blue 0/1 frog until end of turn.
(R): Target creature becomes a red 3/2 cat with menace until end of turn.
(G): Target creature becomes a green 3/3 beast with hexproof until end of turn.
(B): Target creature becomes a black 2/2 rat with death touch until end of turn.
(W): target creature becomes a white 1/3 soldier with double strike until end of turn.
4/4
Freya, Hero to the People (2)(W)(W)
Legendary creature - Cat Cleric
Creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays (1).
Discard a card, then choose one:
(U): Counter target spell that targets another creature.
(R): Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.
(G): Regenerate target creature.
(B): Return target creature from your graveyard to the top of your deck.
(W): Target creature gets +0/+X where X is the discarded card's converted mana cost.
2/4
And one that could be the secondary commander for all of them...
Guardian, the Ancient Golem (6)
Legendary artifact creature - Golem
Kicker (U)(R)(G)(B)(W): This comes into play with 3 +1/+1 counters on it, can fight up to 1 target creature, gains haste, indestructible, and flying until end of turn.
When ever this blocks an attacking creature you may pay:
(U): Draw a card,
(R): Destroy target non-basic land.
(G): Put a +1/+1 counter on this.
(B): Return target card from your graveyard to the top of your library.
(W): Put a white 0/1 flying bird token into play.
4/7
While activated abilities are a clever way to do "five-color monocolor" commanders, these cards are simply all too wordy and try to do way too much. As it stands the cycle all have six wordy abilities each, which wouldn't even fit legibly in a text box. Just to start, by nature of what they're trying to accomplish, they don't need on-color activated abilities.
This isn't really the right forum for this. You want custom card creation. Generally most commander players don't care about custom cards. I include myself in that, but these were entertaining enough (me and my gf spent twenty minutes scrutinizing them) that I felt compelled to respond.
I get this sneaking suspicion that you hate white.
Your templating is pretty difficult to understand. I don't think there's currently a good way to repeat an additional cost for a series of activated abilities without actually writing it for each activation. Which is obviously going to make these cards totally illegible, if they weren't already.
houdini is pretty unplayable unless making enough 4/1's is going to win the game on your next combat, or you need an emergency blocker of some kind. Every nonland card in your deck should be better than one of those tokens in virtually all scenarios. also, why is the white token so much worse than the others? a 1/3 vigilance for 2 is a D- in limited, let alone commander, while a 2/2 flyer for 2 is B-level good in limited (but still bad in commander).
Edrick is probably best of the bunch. Synergizes with existing cards to take advantage of the cost, and the balance isn't too bad. Black one seems significantly stronger than the rest to me.
Ivy beard is almost guaranteed to produce some really unfun game states. Blue ability lets you smack people for tons of unblockable damage. Red one makes you impervious on the ground. That's a pretty uninteresting and repetitive way to win imo. Also, there's the small issue that turning any lands into creatures gives you the capacity to easily kill tons of lands every time someone plays a board wipe. And the balance is way off, black and green abilities are niche, but then the white ability is strictly worse than the green ability - which was already very niche - in THREE ways!
Crowley is just absurdly overpowered. Grave pact on a creature already exists and it costs 7, not 5. The abilities also make combat basically impossible for your opponents while any creatures exist in graveyards, unless they have an enormous token army. This guy would be absolute misery to play against. On a templating note, t's also unclear if the creatures keep their abilities. But at least the white ability is reasonably on a par for once (and I do mean once, white is trash on every other card).
Freya is ok. R and W abilities are basically eclipsed by the green ability in most circumstances, though. Costs seem fair. Probably not busted or too unpleasant to play against. Special slap in the face to white, the only color that has to discard nonlands in addition to being totally eclipsed by green anyway, barring doran shenanigans or something.
Guardian has some serious templating problems. Does it enter with the counters, or receive them as a trigger when it enters? Same for the other abilities. Either way the fight trigger would definitely need to be worded differently, and if you want it to enter with the counters they'd have to be 2 separate clauses, one for entering with, and one for a trigger on entering. Likely to be very messy and result in very very tiny font, and also really inefficient for amassing 11 mana. The abilities are also unclear, can you activate one ability per block? One of each per block? As many times of each as you want? The last one would be very nasty, since you could easily destroy huge swaths of lands or recur tons of cards. The first two are pretty awful considering how expensive he is, and the ability is bad to begin with since your opponent has so much control over when you're able to activate it, barring forced attack cards like gideon (which would be not worth it unless it's the third option, in which case it's a nightmare of LD and recursion - although still probably too slow and conditional to be very good, just very unfun when it actually goes off). And that color balance, yikes. Blue, red, and black are quite strong while green is bad and white is horrific.
Seriously, what is it with white? I don't think it's been so badly mistreated since the boon cycle.
(Note the names aren't really important to me)
Houdini, the Illusionist (2)(U)
Legendary creature - Human Wizard
You have no maximum hand size.
Discard a non-land card and choose one:
(1)(U): Put a blue 2/2 illusion tokenwith flying into play.
(1)(R): Put a red 4/1 illusion token into play.
(1)(G): Put a green 3/2 illusion token with trample into play.
(1)(B): Put a black 2/2 illusion with token first strike into play.
(1)(W): Put a white 1/3 illusion with token vigilance into play.
All tokens have "if this would become the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
1/4
Edrick, the Spellbomb Smith (2)(R)(R)
Legendary Creature - Dwarf Wizard
You may cast artifacts spells as though they had flash.
Sacrifice an artifact and choose one:
(U): Draw a card then discard a card.
(R): Deal 2 damage to target plainswalker or player.
(G): Put a +1/+1 counter on target creatrue.
(B): Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
(W): Gain 3 life.
3/3
Ivy Beard, the Land's Commander (3)(G)(G)
Legendary creature - Treefolk Druid
Whenever you would draw a card, you may return a land from your graveyard to your hand instead.
(U): Target land becomes a blue 2/2 elemental with unblockable until end of turn.
(R): Target land becomes a red 3/1 elemental with first strike until end of turn.
(G): Target land becomes a green 1/4 elemental with reach until end of turn.
(B): Target land becomes a black 2/2 elemental with death touch until end of turn.
(W): Target land becomes a white 0/4 elemental with defender until end of turn.
2/5
Crowley, the Bloodemage (2)(B)(B)(B)
Legendary Creature - Zombie Wizard
Whenever a creature you control dies, each other player sacrifices a creature.
Remove a creature from a graveyard then choose one:
(U): Target creature becomes a blue 0/1 frog until end of turn.
(R): Target creature becomes a red 3/2 cat with menace until end of turn.
(G): Target creature becomes a green 3/3 beast with hexproof until end of turn.
(B): Target creature becomes a black 2/2 rat with death touch until end of turn.
(W): target creature becomes a white 1/3 soldier with double strike until end of turn.
4/4
Freya, Hero to the People (2)(W)(W)
Legendary creature - Cat Cleric
Creatures can't attack you unless their controller pays (1).
Discard a card, then choose one:
(U): Counter target spell that targets another creature.
(R): Target creature gains first strike until end of turn.
(G): Regenerate target creature.
(B): Return target creature from your graveyard to the top of your deck.
(W): Target creature gets +0/+X where X is the discarded card's converted mana cost.
2/4
And one that could be the secondary commander for all of them...
Guardian, the Ancient Golem (6)
Legendary artifact creature - Golem
Kicker (U)(R)(G)(B)(W): This comes into play with 3 +1/+1 counters on it, can fight up to 1 target creature, gains haste, indestructible, and flying until end of turn.
When ever this blocks an attacking creature you may pay:
(U): Draw a card,
(R): Destroy target non-basic land.
(G): Put a +1/+1 counter on this.
(B): Return target card from your graveyard to the top of your library.
(W): Put a white 0/1 flying bird token into play.
4/7
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
I get this sneaking suspicion that you hate white.
Your templating is pretty difficult to understand. I don't think there's currently a good way to repeat an additional cost for a series of activated abilities without actually writing it for each activation. Which is obviously going to make these cards totally illegible, if they weren't already.
houdini is pretty unplayable unless making enough 4/1's is going to win the game on your next combat, or you need an emergency blocker of some kind. Every nonland card in your deck should be better than one of those tokens in virtually all scenarios. also, why is the white token so much worse than the others? a 1/3 vigilance for 2 is a D- in limited, let alone commander, while a 2/2 flyer for 2 is B-level good in limited (but still bad in commander).
Edrick is probably best of the bunch. Synergizes with existing cards to take advantage of the cost, and the balance isn't too bad. Black one seems significantly stronger than the rest to me.
Ivy beard is almost guaranteed to produce some really unfun game states. Blue ability lets you smack people for tons of unblockable damage. Red one makes you impervious on the ground. That's a pretty uninteresting and repetitive way to win imo. Also, there's the small issue that turning any lands into creatures gives you the capacity to easily kill tons of lands every time someone plays a board wipe. And the balance is way off, black and green abilities are niche, but then the white ability is strictly worse than the green ability - which was already very niche - in THREE ways!
Crowley is just absurdly overpowered. Grave pact on a creature already exists and it costs 7, not 5. The abilities also make combat basically impossible for your opponents while any creatures exist in graveyards, unless they have an enormous token army. This guy would be absolute misery to play against. On a templating note, t's also unclear if the creatures keep their abilities. But at least the white ability is reasonably on a par for once (and I do mean once, white is trash on every other card).
Freya is ok. R and W abilities are basically eclipsed by the green ability in most circumstances, though. Costs seem fair. Probably not busted or too unpleasant to play against. Special slap in the face to white, the only color that has to discard nonlands in addition to being totally eclipsed by green anyway, barring doran shenanigans or something.
Guardian has some serious templating problems. Does it enter with the counters, or receive them as a trigger when it enters? Same for the other abilities. Either way the fight trigger would definitely need to be worded differently, and if you want it to enter with the counters they'd have to be 2 separate clauses, one for entering with, and one for a trigger on entering. Likely to be very messy and result in very very tiny font, and also really inefficient for amassing 11 mana. The abilities are also unclear, can you activate one ability per block? One of each per block? As many times of each as you want? The last one would be very nasty, since you could easily destroy huge swaths of lands or recur tons of cards. The first two are pretty awful considering how expensive he is, and the ability is bad to begin with since your opponent has so much control over when you're able to activate it, barring forced attack cards like gideon (which would be not worth it unless it's the third option, in which case it's a nightmare of LD and recursion - although still probably too slow and conditional to be very good, just very unfun when it actually goes off). And that color balance, yikes. Blue, red, and black are quite strong while green is bad and white is horrific.
Seriously, what is it with white? I don't think it's been so badly mistreated since the boon cycle.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6