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Don't worry, I haven't stopped writing about casual vanguard — I'm just taking a one-article break from it to write about Commander FFA.  Next week, it's right back to vanguard for my column.

Specifically, I'm going to be recommending some often overlooked commanders for the Commander format.  The games I have played are generally dominated by cards like Teneb, the Harvester, Kresh the Bloodbraided, and Sliver Legion.  Nothing wrong with those cards, but if you know me I like to be creative.  So the following is with hat in mind.  I won't be discussing many deck building or gameplay tips, just commanders to use.

And all of these are suggestions for casual Commander FFA.

In no particular order:

1. Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant

I've written about this guy before (uh, twice), but suffice it to say that flipping him is pretty powerful.  And if your deck can guarantee getting this guy out, you can feel safer building your deck around it.  Add lots of early game life gain (Martyr of Sands and friends), and then some creatures who benefit from being damage proofed.  You are stuck in white, so you can't run Thunderblust, but you can run Blade of the Sixth Pride and other fragile creatures.  And you can't run Pyrohemia, but there is Time Bomb (and, if Mercadian Masques ever comes online, Wave of Reckoning.)

2. Mangara of Corondor

I can't say much about this guy that hasn't already been said elsewhere, but all of the combos you heard before work just as well in Commander (except the nonwhite ones).  Pack your deck full of cards like Thousand-Year Elixir, Magewright's Stone, Liberate, and Rings of Brighthearth to get extra activations off of him.  But not cards like Turn to Mist, because that's technically a blue card.  (Bonus tip: you are still allowed to play sources of blue mana though, so you CAN flash back that Momentary Blink.)

3. Ixidor, Reality Sculptor

In a regular deck of 60, you can never guarantee you'll get this guy or have anything more synergistic going than a bunch of random morphs.  But in Commander, you know he's going to drop, and you know you can flip that Weaver of Lies at a discount every time.  You are limited to the blue and colorless morphs, but blue also has more morphs than any other color so it will work out.  Don't forget your Ixidron and Dream Chisel!  (Note that your face-down Illusionary Mask creatures WILL get Ixidor's bonus.  Which is mostly pointless, but does exist.)

4. Empress Galina

This isn't so much of a build-around-me card (although the Leyline of Singularity option does exist) as a metagame strategy.  The one thing you know about your opponents in Commander is that they will all be running legends.  So why not run some anti-legends tech?  The Empress also works well as a one-of serving under a different commander.  (Ditto the non-legendary Willow Satyr.  And Arena of the Ancients!  Maybe the Arena could go under a commander that doesn't need to be untapped to work.  Ambassador Laquatus?  Jhoira of the Ghitu?  I know, Masako the Humorless!)

5. Chisei, Heart of Oceans

Even when confined to only blue and artifacts, there are a staggering number of cards that work well next to this guy.  Anything with Cumulative Upkeep.  Anything with -1/-1 counters.  Anything with blood counters (to date, Bloodletter Quill).  And although Chisei usually doesn't pair well with vanishing, I do like it next to both Reality Acid and Chronozoa.  Don't forget to strap it with Unstable Mutation.

6. Braids, Conjurer Adept

This seems potentially very degenerate, especially when powered out by a Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper, but an early Braids could work wonders for you.  If you pack your deck with mana acceleration, gigantic bombs, and some unsummon effects and counterspells, you probably don't need much else.  Even if your opponent does lay down a few dragons.  Just bounce them with your Hoverguard Sweepers and Tidespout Tyrant.  Or grab them with Sower of Temptation.

7. Toshiro Umezawa

This is another card I've written about before, and I say from experience that he's very fun to build around.  Just run as many cheap instants as you can find, and with all of the creature destruction mono black is capable of, it's all but guaranteed you'll get to be recasting them every game you play.  You don't even need to worry about a creatureless opponent, since you'll have three opponents.  Don't forget to run the format-relevant Hero's Demise!

 8. Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker

I have tried so many times to get this guy to work.  He just.  Never.  Does.  But maybe Commander could finally be his place to shine?  Most of his best combos fall in colors outside of his own (Kami of False Hope, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Daring Apprentice, Rukh Egg), but there are still some great options in black and colorless.  Augur of Skulls could be brutal.  Bile Urchin seems innocuous but remember that you can sacrifice him once every turn, not just once every turn of yours.  In a four player game, you're sacrificing him four times every round.  For zero mana.  The same goes for Mindless Automaton and Bottle Gnomes.

9. Heartless Hidetsugu

You may not have access to Spirit Link and friends (a combination I wrote about here, in the Stuffy Doll deck), or even Wound Reflection, but the fact remains that paying five mana to deal 20 damage to each of three players is worth considering.  (There's a starting life of 40, remember.)  You could also devote one of your deck's 100 slots to Furnace of Rath.  I'm just saying.

10. Márton Stromgald

Here's another guy I always really liked despite never getting much use out of him (although you can read about what happens when four differently-named copies of him attack next to each other over here).  But given Commander's dependability in dropping this guy on turn four and swinging on turn five, we should be able to develop a solid gameplan.  Get out as many cheap creatures and goblin tokens as you can.  Throw in a Genesis Chamber maybe.  Just four 1/1s next to this guy will each become 5/5s, ie 21 damage if Márton himself connects.  And if Márton dies?  Just cast him again on turn six.  After casting a Mogg Infestation on turn five, of course.

11. Mannichi, the Fevered Dream

If instead of a "Top 15 underrated commanders" list, this were a "Top 15 Cotton's favorite legendary creatures" list, it wouldn't look a whole lot different.  I admit it.  But I still recommend giving this guy a try on the sole grounds that thaumaturgy* is inherently fun.  Now, most of this guy's best combos are unallowable in Commander, such as the blue Dream Prowler, the black Sudden Spoiling, or the white Wall of Reverence, but there's still plenty to choose from in mono red.  Ydwen Efreet gets a noteworthy boost, as does Dancing Scimitar.  Rukh Egg is easier to kill.  And there's my old favorite Slagwurm Armor.

*Since Mirage, with the printing of Dwarven Thaumaturgist, "thaumaturgy" is in fact the official name for swapping power and toughness.  Even though m-w.com defines thaumaturgy as the performance of magic of any kind.

12. Reki, the History of Kamigawa

If you have to use a legend, why not use a lot of legends?  Gatherer is telling me that between green and colorless, there are 76 legendary spells to choose from (most of which, and forgive me for not manually counting, are available online).  Paired with legend-helping cards like Konda's Banner, Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers, Sword of the Chosen, Tenza, Godo's Maul, and Time of Need, it sounds like you have a theme going.  Not a tournament winning one.  But a theme at least.

13. Hazezon Tamar

Ha ha, why not.  I mean he gives you access to green, which gives you access to ample land searching and ample overrun effects.  This could lead to a funny play on turn eight.  Or earlier, because of all the land searching.  This is before one even gets to the possibilities afforded by Coat of Arms.  But my point is that I like the idea of killing people with sand.

14. Stonebrow, Krosan Hero

From Borborygmos down to Defiant Elf, one could easily make a 100 card singleton deck wherein every creature has trample.  In fact, gatherer is showing 204 green, red, and colorless cards with the word "trample" in their text box, so have at it.

15. Lord of Tresserhorn

Yesssssss, Lord of Tresserhorn.  Structure your deck to handle the creature sacrificing, and befriend one of your three opponents by giving them two free cards.  (It's AN opponent draws two, not EACH opponent draws two.  Thankfully.  Not that the other way would have stopped me from playing this guy.)  I don't know what else to say about this strategy besides "attack with your 10/4 regenerator as much as possible."  Maybe with Seize the Day?  Hmmm I think I'm onto something here.  (If you want to see a vanguard approach to The Lord, that lets you cast him on turn two, look here.)

There you have it.

See you next time, and have fun with... the format of your choice!