The four color year. Five decks, five four-color wedges, and the set that introduced partner.
Two commanders with partner lead the deck together. Commander 2016 introduced it with fifteen cards, and it has shaped deck building in the format ever since.
Each deck is led by a legend missing exactly one color. That was new here, and it forced the mana bases in these boxes to be better than the usual precon standard.
Undaunted reduces a spell cost by one for each opponent. It is a mechanic that only exists because of multiplayer, and it makes expensive cards reasonable at a four player table.
Both ask the whole table to participate: join forces lets everyone pay into an effect, parley reveals a card from each player library. Political designs that reward talking rather than attacking.
Commander 2016 is one of the most consequential releases in the format history. Every deck is four colors, and the set introduced partner, which is still the mechanic that most expands what a deck can be.
Atraxa came out of this box. She has been at or near the top of the most played commanders list ever since, because proliferate touches every kind of counter and the four color identity fits almost any strategy. Breya is the other long term winner and remains a serious artifact combo commander.
The decks are also unusually well constructed for the era, since four color mana bases forced Wizards to include real fixing rather than a pile of taplands.
Breed Lethality, by a distance. Atraxa is the reason this box still sells, and the deck around her is a workable starting point for any counters strategy.
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
A four-color +1/+1 counters deck from Commander 2016 led by Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Atraxa proliferates every end step, so counters snowball across your whole board while her flying, deathtouch, and lifelink body holds down the table.
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
A four-color chaos and cascade deck from Commander 2016, led by Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder, deal combat damage with Yidris to give every subsequent spell you cast cascade for the rest of the turn.
Breya, Etherium Shaper
A four-color artifact combo deck from Commander 2016, led by Breya, Etherium Shaper, generate thopter tokens, sacrifice artifacts to Breya's abilities, and assemble the combo kills that make this deck one of the most powerful C16 precons.
Saskia the Unyielding
A four-color aggro deck from Commander 2016, led by Saskia the Unyielding, nominate a second opponent to take combat damage whenever any opponent takes damage from your creatures, and attack wide for double damage output.
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis
A four-color group hug and political deck from Commander 2016, led by Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, give everyone extra draws and land drops to accumulate goodwill, then exploit the political chaos as opponents hesitate to attack each other's benefactor.