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People who haven’t playedMagic: The Gathering’sCommander formatin a while probably remember it as a slow, grindy setting where players are all vying to being the first one deploying big seven- and eight-mana haymakers.That’s not really how modern-day Commander shakes out, which has more emphasis on early-game interaction and sleek, streamlined deckbuilding.
There’s more riding on the here and now in a typical Commander game, pushing players to trim their top-end in favor of cheap spells and efficient interaction. That applies to the commanders as well, with some of the most powerful legendaries being the two-mana powerhouses that set your plans in motion as early as turn two.
10Krark, The Thumbless
Zero Thumbs Down, For Obvious Reasons
Krark reads like a dicey (coin-flippy?) spellslinger payoff that either doubles your spells or backfires and wastes your mana. The reality is that either outcome is beneficial if the player built their deck with this in mind.
The key is combining Krark with other payoffs that trigger when you cast spells. If you fire off a cheap spell and Krark copies it, great! Free bonus spells! But if Krark fumbles the coin flip, you just bounce your spell back to your hand and cast it again, triggering all your other payoffs an additional time.
9Valki, God Of Lies
A Deceitful Mana Cost
The greatest lie Valki ever told was that it’s a two-mana commander, since anyone running this in the command zone almost certainly has their eyes on Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor, a seven-mana planeswalker. Thanks totransforming double-faced cardrules, either half counts as your commander.
The catch is that casting either half of the card increases your commander tax, regardless of which side you cast the second time. That actually discourages you from ever casting Valki, though it’s available in a pinch. Otherwise, stick to Tibalt and wreak havoc, using your opponents' cards against them.
8Karlov Of The Ghost Council
Lifegain’s Deadliest Commander
Forget about the other members of the Ghost Council, Karlov’s got things covered. This spiritual extortionist does exactly what lifegain decks desire; that is, Karlov turns lifegain into damage, and very quickly. Any instance of lifegain is good for two+1/+1 counters, which can then be funneled into creature removal.
Karlov’s best friends with “Soul Sister” creatures, ones that gain life whenever another creature enters the battlefield. The one-sided ones like Suture Priest and Impassioned Orator do just fine, but turn-one Soul Warden into turn-two Karlov is an incredibly dangerous way to start a game.
7Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice
Not So Light In Combat
On behalf of the Emperor, Light-Paws would like to introduce you to Speed Magic, a sub-format where games end as quickly as turns three or four. That’s not the default for Light-Paws, but it’s also not outside the realm of possibility, making this a viablecompetitive-level commander.
There’s no trickery either; it’s all spelled out on the card. A single All That Glitters fetching up an Ethereal Armor makes for a minimum 6-power commander all on its own, and that’s just from casting one aura. Imagine what happens if you cast two or three in the same turn.
6Agatha Of The Vile Cauldron
Activated Abilities, Unite
Agatha needs help to reach her full potential, but not much, and Agatha at her strongest is a terrifying sight to behold. A single +1/+1 counter on Agatha reduces all your creatures’activated abilitiesby one, and a handful of counters lets you get away with some truly degenerate things.
Agatha also comes custom-equipped with an activated ability of her own, which functionally costs five to activate and can get down to as little as two. Once it’s as cheap as it gets, it’s pretty easy to keep spamming the ability over and over for a huge overrun-style effect.
5Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief
Bring Your Dry-Erase Tokens
Ivy is a kill-on-sight commander. If she lives for even one turn cycle, it’s usually too late to deal with it. Most decks centered around this commander play an extensive amount of card draw, cheapcountermagic, andprotection spells, making Ivy something of an impenetrable card advantage machine once it gets going.
What’s more, Ivy can completely mess up other strategies. Some commanders like Feather, the Redeemed and Zada, Hedron Grinder revolve around beneficial spells that target creatures. Ivy can piggyback off all those spells and pick up the benefits for free, simply by sitting on the battlefield.
4Tinybones, Trinket Thief
Boneheaded Discard Shenanigans
The fan-favorite Tinybones made their legendary debut in Jumpstart 2020, and has captured the hearts ofdevious discard playersand the ire of furious empty-handed opponents ever since. Legends that incentivize discard shenanigans are scary to see in the command zone. See: Tergrid, God of Fright.
Tinybones can be especially frustrating to play against, since if it’s working, that meanssomeoneat the table’s stuck in top-deck mode. It introduces a sort of mini-game to your match, where each players' goal shifts to making sure they’re always holdingsomethingso they can dodge Tinybones' activated ability.
3Thrasios, Triton Hero
The Whole Partner Package
At worst Thrasios draws a card on every activation, and some amount of the time it’ll float extra mana into play, which then pays for additional activations down the line. There’s a point of no return once the Thrasios player hits a certain mana threshold.
Partner’s always a big selling point. As with other popular two-color partners like Tymna the Weaver, Thrasios lets you customize the colors of your deck and slot a great value engine into the command zone, whether it’s a central part of your strategy or not.
2Sythis, Harvest’s Hand
The Emblematic Enchantress
Sythis isthe enchantress archetype’spremier commander. It’s sleek, cheap to play and recast, and heavily rewards the enchantment-based archetype it’s built for. For reference, most ‘enchantress’ creatures cost three mana minimum for a weaker effect.
While you could takethe Voltron approachwith cheap auras and protection spells, Sythis is most commonly built as a pillow fort deck, locking opponents out of interacting with you via spells or combat. The deck can buy plenty of time until it hits a big finisher like Hallowed Haunting or Nylea’s Colossus.
1Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Absurdity Incarnate, For Just Two Mana
Kinnan generates an unprecedented amount of mana at such a low cost, creating insurmountable boardstates before other players even get their footing. Even better, killing Kinnan rarely keeps the deck in check, since it’s surrounded by so much mana production already.
If a two-cost mana doubler wasn’t already enough, Kinnan has a built-in ability that you can sink that mana into. Kinnan shrugs off the seven-mana activation cost, rolling giant finishers or even bigger mana producers into play; anything from Craterhoof Behemoth to Nyxbloom Ancient can hit the board, at instant speed no less.
