Summary
Magic: The Gathering’sCommander format lets you pick from over 2000 different legendary creatures to head up your dead. Picking your creature and tailoring your deck to their abilities is the most satisfying part of the format, but also one of its most overwhelming.
Fortunately, it’s often easier to pick the colours you want and to work from there. If you’re wanting a two-colour commander, these are the best of the best to get you going.
10White/Blue: Shorikai, Genesis Engine
Put the Pedal To The Metal
Though they were introduced back in Kaladesh, Vehicles didn’t really become a viable deck archetype until Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Shorikai, Genesis Engine wss the alternate commander of one of the set’s preconstructed decks, but it’s gone on to find life as something much zoomier and scarier.
Shorikai can make Pilots that crew Vehicles a lot easier, and combined with Kotori, Pilot Prodigy can be crewed as early as turn four to swing out for a whopping eight damage. Throw in other artifact synergies like Unwinding Clock, and top-notch Vehicles like Parhelion II and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, and Shorikai gets those engines purring.
9Blue/Black: Yuriko, The Tiger’s Shadow
Cheat The Commander Tax
Infamously, Yuriko is considered a big mistake by its designer Gavin Verhey. This Ninja commander can circumvent the command tax with her Ninjutsu ability, and generates immediate value the second it deals combat damage.
Though unblockable creatures and other Ninjas are a big part of Yuriko’s strategy, you also have to watch out for high-cost spells like Shadow of Mortality and Dig Through Time that can wipe your opponents out with ease. She is perhaps one of the most kill-on-sight commanders of all time, but still manages to fly under the radar for anyone who’s not encountered her before.
8Black/Red: Prosper, Tomb-Bound
Casting From Exile
For a long time, exile was the ‘really, really dead’ zone of the game, where nothing could come back. Then it started being used for blink effects, and eventually you had ways to cast spells from exile thanks to mechanics like foretell, impulsive draw,cascade, time counters, and double-faced cards.
Prosper takes all of those mechanics and turns them into one big ball of raw profit. Playing cards from exile is easy, and in exchange you’ll get Treasure tokens to cast even more spells from exile. The idea is to use something like Marionette Master, Mayhem Devil, or Mirkwood Bats to burn your opponents every time you sacrifice a token, all while keeping up card advantage thanks to Prosper.
7Red/Green: Tovolar, Dire Overlord
Werewolves On The Prowl
Werewolves are a severely underrated creature type. They struggled with a lack of a good commander for years, only for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt to come along and confuse things with the day/night mechanic.
But, fortunately, Tovolar is here to bring both new and old Werewolves together under one united front. He can flip all your Werewolves, and all you have to do is swing out and keep flooding the board with Wolves. Just jam this deck full of your favourite lycanthropes and come out howling.
6Green/White: Sythis, Harvest’s Hand
An Enchanting Time
They might not be as prevalent as creatures and artifacts, but enchantment decks are hugely synergistic, tough to deal with, and are nonstop value engines. Case in point: Sythis, Harvest’s Hand.
Play an enchantment, gain a life, draw a card. Oh look, it’s an enchantment, play that one too, gain a life, draw a card. Keep this going as you fill up the board with everything from a Jukai Naturalist to a Sanctum Weaver, before you drop that All That Glitters and swing in for massive damage, or blot out the sun with a hoard of Pegasus thanks to Archon of Sun’s Grace.
5White/Black: Teysa Karlov
Profiting From Death
Aristocrats decks love sacrificing things, and nobody loves death triggers more than Teysa Karlov. Any time a creature dying triggers an ability, like a Zulaport Cutthroat draining your opponents for life, or a Pitiless Plunderer making you Treasure tokens, Teysa doubles it.
Low-toughness tokens are the best for Teysa, as you can then either throw them to an Ashnod’s Altar for mana, or a Skullclamp for card draw. It’s hard to go wrong with Teysa; as long as something hits the graveyard, you’re halfway to winning.
4Blue/Red: Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
Pinging Pain
Universes Beyond has proved controversial since its debut, but Ghyrson Starn from the Warhammer 40,000 Tyranid deck proves they can be powerful, popular, and utterly terrifying all in equal measure.
Ghyrson is a ping commander, meaning they want you to stock up on effects that deal just one damage to any target. Ghyrson will then respond to that damage by dealing another two damage, turning a simple ping into a Lightning Bolt. Combine this with Basilisk Collar for easy deathtouch creature removal, Curiosity for card draw, and, of course, Grapeshot to storm your way to victory.
3Black/Green: Lathril, Blade Of The Elves
An Old Fashioned Game Of Elfball
Every single Commander pod has the friend who justloves their Elves, and there’s a good chance they run Lathril, Blade of the Elves as their commander. If Lathril isn’t the commander, she’s definitely in the deck somewhere.
She is by far the best Elf kindred commander available. She makes Elves by dealing combat damage, and once your horde of them is big enough can turn them all into nice, direct lifeloss to all of your opponents. Pump your deck with every point-eared nuisance possible and go to town.
2Red/White: Winota, Joiner Of Forces
Scary Creatures, Scarier Humans
Once the scourge of Pioneer and Explorer, Winota still causes havoc in Commander as the face of one of the format’s most controversial and detested archetypes:hatebears. Winota doesn’t want anybody to play Magic.
Hatebears are small creatures that impose additional rules onto your opponents, and Winota’s ability conveniently makes pulling the many Human hatebears out into play all the easier. Boromir, Warden of the Tower; Dauntless Dismantler; and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben can all be enabled by non-Human hatebears like Aven Mindcensor and Archon of Emeria.
1Blue/Green: Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Simic Go Brrr
Competitive Commander, known as cEDH, has a few big names. Thrasios, Kraum, Breya, Sisa, Atraxa, and Tymna all scare with their powerful abilities, but Kinnan impresses by just letting you play Magic a heck of a lot faster.
After making double the mana, Kinnan can then cheat expensive creatures into play. A Hullbreaker Horror or Void Winnower on turn three, or sooner, can be backbreaking, and that is most of Kinnan’s gameplan. If big, smashy creatures and lots of mana is your thing, the Bonder Prodigy is the way to go.
