Summary
The Grixis color combination (blue/black/red) inMagic: The Gathering Arenais known for a plethora of devious strategies, as these three colors pair perfectly if you’re looking to cause mischief for your foe by destroying their permanents, countering their spells or dealing damage to their creatures.
Brawl is Arena’s Commander equivalent with some tweaks. Most notably, any planeswalker can be used as your commander in this format, which stands in stark contrast to paper Magic, in which only specific planeswalkers can be used as your commander. With that in mind, let’s delve into the 10 finest Grixis Commanders for Brawl on Arena.
10Cormela, Glamour Thief
A Terrific Budget “Spells Matter” Option
A terrific budget commander in Grixis colors, this legendary Vampire Rogue works perfectly with most Grixis strategies. Casting instant or sorcery spells is what this color combination does best, and Cormela aids that strategy with ease.
Notably, Cormela’s triggered ability upon death allows her to recur your most important instant or sorcery spell from the graveyard every time she bites the dust – something that will likely happen a lot during a game of Brawl. As such, make sure to play a few extra turn cards when playing Cormela.
9Admiral Beckett Brass
The First Pirate Lord
Making her first appearance in 2017’s Ixalan expansion, Admiral Beckett Brass was the first notable Pirate “lord” in MTG, and her effect remains relatively strong when playing an aggressive Pirate-themed MTGA Brawl deck.
While this Admiral has been outshone by a more recent printing, the ability to steal a foe’s nonland permanent as long as you’ve dealt damage with three Pirates is still quite strong, and this card does feel somewhat more thematic than the newer Brass variant – as your Pirates will be spilling over the deck and pillaging your foe’s cards in no time when playing this commander.
8Lord Xander, the Collector
Three Super-Strong Triggered Abilities
More like “Lord Xander, the Commander.” This mythic rare fromStreets of New Capennafeatures a bevy of ultra-strong triggered abilities that are immensely strong when attached to a card that can be replayed over and over again – like your commander.
Sadly, Xander’s enters-the-battlefield trigger of forcing your foe to discard half of their hand is likely his weakest one, but if your foe doesn’t counter him but instead destroys him, they’ll have to sacrifice half of their nonland permanents for their trouble. And if you attack with Xander, your foe will lose half their library!
7Marchesa, Dealer of Death
A Crime-Committing Commander Option
A legendary creature from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Marchesa makes use of thecrime mechanicfrom that set and combines any time you target a foe or their stuff with card selection (one into your hand, one into the graveyard) – so long as you’re willing to “pay the one.”
In Grixis colors, committing crimes is absolutely trivial. Though playing Marchesa on turn three is surely attractive, it’s usually more profitable to wait until you may back up Marchesa with blue countermagic (which is a crime), black targeted removal (which is a crime) or red damage-dealing spells (which is also a crime). As you can see, you’ll be rifling through your deck in no time.
6Admiral Brass, Unsinkable
A Stronger Pirate Lord
Another appearance of MTG’s favorite Pirate lord, this version of the revered Beckett Brass hails from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander bonus sheet and features a self-mill ETB ability that fuels the Unsinkable’s second ability.
Seeing as how many MTG Pirates have impressively strong ETB triggers, the ability to recur them from your ‘yard (albeit with a finality counter on it, meaning specific cards can’t be recurred infinitely with Brass) is immensely strong. Just likeMolly Brown of Titanic fame, this Brass is surely unsinkable.
5Nicolas Bolas, the Ravager / Nicol Bolas, the Arisen
The Patron Saint Of Grixis Commanders
While this marks the first appearance on this list of one MTG’s most memorable (and most powerful) “big bads,” there are stronger variants of this card to come. Ultimately, this version of Bolas might be better served as a massively powerful addition to your 99, but it can still dominate as a commander too.
While a 4/4 flyer for four mana that forces your foe to chuck a card is quite good, this card’s true power lies in its activated “transform” ability, which is quite mana-intensive, but can absolutely swing a game if you manage it since the card’s planeswalker side (Nicol Bolas, the Arisen) is thunderously powerful.
4Sauron, the Dark Lord
And In The Darkness, This Commander Binds Them
An incredibly powerful Grixis commander option befits the Lord of the Rings, the lidless eye himself – Sauron. This card’s incredibly strong ward ability makes it mostly impervious to targeted removal, unless a foe is playing a Legend-heavy “superfriends” Commander deck.
Beyond that, all abilities on this card are busted, though getting to Amass Orcs 1 whenever a foe casts any spell might be the best. Or perhaps getting to chuck your hand and draw four cards whenever an Army (such as the Orc token you created) deals damage to a foe is better. No matter which ability is the best, this card is an incredibly strong Grixis commander – and one that foes will not enjoy playing against.
3Obeka, Splitter of Seconds
Extra Upkeeps? Yes Please
When this card was spoiled before Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Commander and Brawl players who specialize in Grixis perked up their ears in anticipation. Being able to chain together multiple upkeeps in a row sounded too good to be true, and in practice, this commander can be truly debilitating to play against.
While Obeka is surely a removal magnet, if you’re able to back her up withcountermagicor some sort of other protection spell and then manage to hit the foe in combat, so long as you have some of thestrongest upkeep effects in MTGbehind her, you’ll likely be winning the game in short order.
2Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Supremely Powerful (And Expensive) Planeswalker
Planeswalkers with four abilities are almost always immensely powerful, and this card that debuted on MTG Arena with the Amonkhet Remastered anthology set certainly proves that point in spades. Nicol Bolas is clearly the Grixis mage’s top choice when it comes to mascots, as cards that feature him or are related to him are generally among the strongest cards in that color combination.
This planeswalker certainly fits that bill, as all four abilities are hugely powerful. However, this card’s +2 ability might be its best, as stealing whatever nonland card that’s closest to the top of the foe’s library for the low cost of nothing is truly busted – especially in concert with this card’s other three abilities.
1Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
The Best Grixis Brawl Commander Ever
Planeswalkers with four abilities are awesome. But what about a planeswalker with every ability of every planeswalker on the battlefield… for only five mana? That’s exactly what Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God from War of the Spark delivers, all for only one blue mana, three black mana and one red mana.
Those three black pips in this card’s mana cost might sound prohibitive, but just think, if you manage to have a Dark Ritual in your opening hand, you can play this card on three and then begin drawing cards and forcing your foe to either remove this Bolas immediately or swiftly fall behind on-board. Of course, the dream of playing this card is to ultimate it, and if your foe doesn’t have a legendary creature or planeswalker, they immediately lose the game.
