Build Commander
How Many Tutors Should You Run in Commander?
2 to 5 tutors is plenty for most decks. A tutor buys you precision, not extra cards, so more isn't automatically better once you know what you're actually paying for one.
The starting number
2 to 5 tutors is a reasonable range for most decks, small enough that the game still feels like a hundred-card singleton format and not so few that you have no way to find a key piece when a game actually needs it.
The reason to stay light here: a tutor spends a card to get a card, so it's card-neutral at best. You're not gaining resources, you're trading unpredictability for precision. That's worth doing for a handful of your most important effects, but a deck built entirely on tutoring stops being a hundred-card deck in any meaningful sense, it's the same six or seven cards every game with padding around them.
What actually moves the number
A combo deck wants more, sometimes 8-10. If your plan depends on assembling two or three specific cards, tutors are how you make that plan consistent instead of a coin flip. This is the clearest case where a heavy tutor package is a correct build choice rather than a crutch.
A creature-based deck can lean on narrower, cheaper tutors. Eladamri's Call and similar creature-only tutors cost less and often come down at instant speed, which is a better fit for a deck that just needs to find one specific creature rather than any card in the library.
Pair a heavy tutor package with real card draw. Since tutors don't net you ahead on cards, a deck leaning on several of them wants a stronger-than-average draw suite to avoid running out of gas, see how much card draw to run for the numbers.
Consider your table before maxing this category out. A deck that tutors for the same lock piece or the same combo every single game removes a lot of the variance that makes Commander fun for the rest of the pod, worth raising in a Rule 0 conversation before you sit down.
Tutors worth knowing
Three shapes of tutor: unconditional to hand, cheap and fast but delayed a turn, and narrow but efficient.
Demonic Tutor ↗
Two mana, any card, straight to hand. The best unconditional tutor available, and the standard the rest of the category is measured against.
Vampiric Tutor ↗
One mana at instant speed, but the card goes on top of your library instead of your hand. Cheaper and faster than Demonic Tutor at the cost of a turn's delay.
Eladamri's Call ↗
Creature-only, but it's an instant and the card goes straight to hand. The right shape for a creature-based combo or Voltron plan that wants a specific piece at a specific moment.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many tutors should a Commander deck run?
2 to 5 for most decks, enough to find a key piece when you need it without turning the whole deck into a search engine for one card. A combo-focused deck built to reliably assemble two or three specific cards is the main exception, and can reasonably run more.
Do tutors hurt card advantage?
Yes, and it's worth knowing going in. A tutor spends a card to get a card, so it's card-neutral at best, unlike a draw spell that nets you ahead. What you're paying for is precision, not raw card count, which is exactly why a deck heavy on tutors also wants a healthy card draw suite to make up the difference.
Are tutors considered unfun to play against?
Some tables feel that way about a deck that tutors up the same lock piece or combo every game, since it removes the randomness that makes a hundred-card singleton format interesting. It's worth a conversation during your table's Rule 0 discussion if your deck leans heavily on them.
What's the difference between a tutor and a Demonic Tutor effect specifically?
'Tutor' is the general term for any effect that searches your library for a card; 'Demonic Tutor effect' usually refers specifically to an unconditional one that finds any card in your deck, named after the card that set the standard for the category.
See how often your tutors actually find the right card.
TurnZero HQ's game history lets you review past games, so you can tell whether a tutor slot is earning its place.
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