Summary
The Commander format is one of the most popular ways to playMagic: The Gathering. Your commander determines what colors you can play in your deck, and so, while mono-colored commanders may seem like they’d be weaker since the card pool is more limited, some mono-colored commanders are among the best in the format.
There are a lot of mono-colored commanders in Magic for every color. Not all of them are equal though. Some aren’t made to be a commander and are more meant for constructed balance, while others are very strong and can run away with the game.
6White: Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice
The Queen Of Voltron
Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice is one of themost popular Voltron commanders(decks that put various permanents onto one creature to give it massive stats). For Light-Paws decks, it utilizes Auras, as it can give you two Auras for the price of one directly from your library.
What makes Light-Paws so strong is how consistent it is. There are a ton of fantastic, low-mana Auras that both give Light-Paws protection and evasion, making it very easy for it to attack freely into your opponents. Since Light-Paws only costs two mana itself, it is very easy to cast it as early as turn one.
Normally, Voltron decks' biggest downside is the amount of time it takes to set up leaves you defenseless, however, because Light-Paws is so quick you can easily take everyone out with commander damage before they even have a chance to set up.
5Blue: Urza, Lord High Artificer
Turn Artifacts Into Mana
Urza, Lord High Artificer is such a strong commander that even purposefully weaker builds of Urza are still probably better than a lot of other decks someone can be playing.Urza decks play a ton of artifacts, and all of those artifacts are turned into mana dorks with Urza’s activated ability. You can use all these artifacts to cheat out any card from the top of your library, casting them for free.
The strength of Urza, Lord High Artificer comes from just how out of hand it can get so quickly. There is so much artifact support in Magic, and most of it is colorless, so Urza being mono-colored is hardly a downside. The sheer amount of mana generation and free spells Urza lets you cast can get obscene, and can easily enable a ton of infinite combos to win the game in one turn.
4Black: K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
Compleat Domination
K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth is fantastic in any black deck, so having it as a commander is one of the best things you’re able to be doing for a mono-black commander deck. Since K’rrik turns all black mana in castingcosts into phyrexian mana, you can always pay life instead of mana to cast a ton of spells in one turn.
K’rrik can hit the battlefield very early, since you only need to generate four mana traditionally, and you may pay life for the rest.
One of black’s biggest traits is paying life to use effects. Black is also big in lifegain, letting you counteract the life you lose to cast spells with K’rrik to make sure you won’t use up too much of your life. Since you start with 40 life, you have a lot to work with to cast spells with life instead of black mana, and with how many tutors black has access to, you may get to your win conditions very easily.
3Red: Krenko, Mob Boss
The Goblin Horde Comes
As you may expect from mono-red, the best mono-red commander is one that is very aggressive - one of red’s biggest traits.Krenko, Mob Boss snowballs very quickly, as every activation of Kreno nets you double the amount of Goblins you control. Goblins are all about flooding the battlefield quickly, often sacrificing themselves to generate mana to cast more Goblins.
There are a lot of haste enablers both in red and for Goblins specifically, allowing you to use Krenko’s effect the turn it hits the battlefield. With a haste enabler on the battlefield, you get a guaranteed Krenko activation before it becomes open for removal if it hits the battlefield. After just a few activations of Krenko’s effect, you’ll likely have enough Goblins to swing out and win the game in just one combat step.
2Green: Marwyn, The Nuturer
Nuture Elves, Get More
Elves are one of the strongest creature typesin commander, with Marwyn, the Nurturer one of the best commanders for Elves and the best when it comes to mono-green. Elves' main trait is generating a lot of mana and flooding the battlefield, both of which enable Marwyn’s ability to give it massive stats and generate a ton of mana.
Marwyn can hit the battlefield very easily, which allows you to quickly start getting its triggered ability off as you cast more and more Elves.
Marwyn, the Nurturer can provide a turn of mana in one turn, letting you potentially play out your entire hand with just one activation of its ability. Since Elves have so much ramp and cheap creatures, you may amass a giant battlefield to then cast other spells to give them stat-boosts.
The explosiveness and long-term value is what makes Marwyn such a good mono-green commander, and sets it apart from the rest.
1Colorless: Zhulodok, Void Gorger
Color Of The Eldrazi
While colorless is technically, well, colorless, it still has the properties of a mono-colored commander, hence its inclusion here. Colorless commanders mean you’re able to only play colorless cards, with Zhulodok, Void Gorger being the best option.
Most of the best colorless cards cost a lot of mana to play, and Zhulodok gives them all double cascade, meaning they’ll bring along two other spells for free, giving you three spells for the price of one.
If Zhulodok manages to stay on the battlefield, you can feel comfortable about likely winning the game. Casting spells for free is fantastic, especially when you’re generating enough mana to cast more than one spell with mana value seven or more. It only gives colorless spells cascade, but since you’re playing a colorless commander, all your spells will be colorless anyway, so this restriction hardly matters.
