The 30 Best Political Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on May 17, 2025

Gonti, Night Minister | Illustration by Scott M. Fischer

Multiplayer Commander is a game of politics. The instant a third player enters the game, your brain immediately begins analyzing and evaluating the best way to turn their spells against the second player. Through obfuscation, incentives, and good ol’ democracy, multiplayer Commander games can play out just like the political scene of any national superpower, with just as much vitriol and violence.

Building an entire deck that capitalizes on the political nature of Commander isn’t anything new, but we have seen a new influx of politics-minded commander creatures in recent years. As R&D explores the political sphere of the Commander game, can any of the old politics Commanders hold their own? Or have the fresh faces voted them out of power?

What Are Political Commanders in MTG?

Elrond of the White Council | Illustration by Javier Charro

Political commanders are, for our purposes, any Commander-legal legendary creature that can be built as a “politics” deck—meaning they require the player piloting them to influence their opponents into doing their bidding. Some commanders reward our opponents for fighting amongst themselves, some punish them for attacking us, and others gift them the tools they need to destroy your opponents. Many make use of the voting mechanic, and let you cook the votes in your favor.

Political commanders require a certain level of tactical acumen from their player. You need to know how to analyze threats both on and off the board, and have the cards available to influence the other players at the table. Expect a lot of deal-making like “I won’t attack you this turn if…” and “I can destroy that Propaganda if you attack them this turn.”

#30. The Valeyard

The Valeyard forces opponents to make a villainous choice twice whenever they’d make it once—doubling up on the detrimental effects introduced in the Doctor Who Commander decks.

#29. Erestor of the Council

Erestor of the Council takes the voting mechanic in a different direction. Erestor rewards those that vote with you with cold hard Treasure tokens while letting you scry for each opponent who votes against. This lets you lean into the incentivizing influences of your political gameplan—that opponent might really need that extra mana, but do they need it badly enough to vote with you on Expropriate?

#28. Galadriel, Elven-Queen

Galadriel, Elven-Queen triggers a vote on any of your combat steps if an elf entered the battlefield this turn—an easy enough prerequisite in a Simic () deck. This instance of Galadriel flies through the steps of the Ring Tempts You mechanic, letting you assemble a big evasive creature with a ton of additional effects.

#27. Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis

The 4-color legend Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis is a classic group hug commander with a little bit of political play. It requires other cards to effectively influence your opponents as Kynaios and Tiro’s effect benefits everyone, preventing you from becoming the kingmaker that you want to be.

#26. Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist

Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist has to be one of the least popular commanders from Commander Legends. But the poor guy doesn’t deserve it at all. Each turn, it gives the player with the least creatures a 4/3 Salamander, which you and your permanents conveniently have protection from. Handing your opponents a loaded, Salamander-shaped gun each turn is an excellent way to make an ally, and to set the sights of those guns on your foes. Be sure to include symmetrical effects like Primal Vigor to capitalize on this effect!

#25. Selvala, Explorer Returned

While Selvala, Explorer Returned only gains you life and adds mana to your pool, it still lets everyone draw a card—something we can use to our advantage after they’ve just Worldly Tutor’d or scried something to the top.

Selvala politics decks need to make use of green and white’s utility creatures like Novablast Wurm instead of a Wrath of God, or Hixus, Prison Warden and Nullmage Advocate.

#24. Shizuko, Caller of Autumn

If there’s one surefire way to get on another player’s good side, it's with free mana. Shizuko, Caller of Autumn doesn’t do much, but by building around ramping the entire pod with spells like Collective Voyage, Rites of Flourishing, and Veteran Explorer, we can make sure everyone at the table has loads of mana, and hopefully they’ll remember our generosity when the time comes to drop our Helix Pinnacle.

#23. Angus Mackenzie

The Legends Bant () creature Angus Mackenzie is a Fog on a body. Being able to repeatedly and reliably negate all combat damage is as easy as enchanting Angus with a Second Wind or Freed from the Real. From then on, you’re in charge who deals combat damage, letting you shut down those aggressive Krenko, Mob Boss decks while you and your newfound allies dig for answers.

#22. Gonti, Night Minister

Gonti, Night Minister lets your opponents steal each others’ spells, plus rewards them for doing so by generating treasure tokens. Build this political commander with a ton of evasive flying creatures or cards that grant shadow like Dauthi Embrace and give everyone the opportunity to steal each others’ best spells.

#21. Pramikon, Sky Rampart

The simple act of forcing attacks to go only clockwise or counterclockwise around the board can be a political threat all in itself. You make enemies for your enemies whenever Pramikon, Sky Rampart hits the field, deciding who fights who and how. Many Pramikon decks are also built around the wall creature type, letting you turtle up behind your defenses and ensuring the player who must attack you can only do so ineffectually.

#20. Gluntch, the Bestower

Gluntch, the Bestower has an array of beneficial effects that you can spread around the board to force everyone to play nice with you. You need to take them at their word that they’ll graciously accept these gifts from Gluntch, though, otherwise you’ll be staring down three players with a lot more advantage than you.

#19. Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser

Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser has some consistent card draw that triggers whenever your opponents fight each other instead of you. And Nelly grants menace to one of their creatures by suspecting it, making it easier than ever for other players to swing haymakers at each other while you sit back, relax, and enjoy drawing cards.

#18. Tasigur, the Golden Fang

A Tasigur, the Golden Fang politics deck needs a player that knows how to gaslight. You need to convince your opponents that yes, you actually do need that Bolas's Citadel to save them and yes, you do need the Damnation in your graveyard to wipe the board.

#17. Elrond of the White Council

Elrond of the White Council makes use of the voting mechanic, but it only triggers when Elrond enters the battlefield. While the politics of stealing creatures from your opponents can be engaging and exciting, you need to devote significant resources to bouncing Elrond in and out of the battlefield. This isn’t too hard to pull off in Simic () colors, but this list has better choices, so this Elrond plays best in the 99.

#16. Ms. Bumbleflower

Ms. Bumbleflower’s ability gifts opponents cards whenever you cast a spell, with the added bonus of drawing two cards for yourself if it's the second time the ability has resolved. You can use the +1/+1 counters and flying ability it grants on your opponents’ creatures as well, beefing them up for the promise of protection when the time comes.

#15. Sen Triplets

Why bother trying to convince your friends to do your bidding when you can just do it yourself? Sen Triplets lets you make the choice for your opponents on where and when they’ll be casting their spells. Use their revealed hands to influence the rest of the table’s future actions – “Don’t cast your commander yet, they have removal right there. Here, I’ll force them to waste it on a mana dork if you attack them next turn.”

#14. Kenrith, the Returned King

Kenrith, the Returned King has so many build options that it should come as no surprise that they can slot right into a politics deck. Whereas a typical Kenrith deck focuses on using their activated abilities to generate advantage on your board, there’s no reason you can’t use these effects on your opponents. Returning a creature from the graveyard at instant speed to save a player from a lethal attack, or juicing that attacker with just enough +1/+1 counters to deal lethal to an opponent can pay off in the end, especially if you have a contingency plan for when that player turns on you.

#13. Círdan the Shipwright

Círdan the Shipwright’s secret council effect keeps players votes hidden. Your opponents want to ensure each player gets at least one vote so they don’t get a free permanent on the field, but you also want to make sure nobody draws too many cards. There’s no rule saying you can’t declare openly what you’ll be voting for, leading to an interesting debate each turn that Círdan attacks. These sorts of discussions are what really make Commander a social format—test your charisma against your opponents!

#12. Queen Marchesa

Any card that introduces the monarch mechanic into a game is ripe for becoming a politics commander. Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) not only crowns a monarch, it makes it easy to maintain that monarchy. Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) creates the perfect creature token for swinging back on an opponent who took your monarch status—dethroning them or destroying one of their creatures with your deathtouch assassin instead.

#11. Shadrix Silverquill

Shadrix Silverquill has one ability with three modes for controlling the board. Make one player into everyone’s enemy by giving them tons and tons of 2/1 Inkling tokens and then buff them up with +1/+1 counters, or use the card draw effect to assist the player falling behind.

#10. Kros, Defense Contractor

Want your opponents to like you? Give their creatures some survivability! By placing shield counters on your opponents’ creatures, Kros, Defense Contractor goads them into combat and ensures their damage gets through by granting them trample as well. You can both use your opponents’ creatures as a threat against other players, and save them from impending removal to forge alliances.

#9. Karona, False God

Are you stuck at a table with entirely typal decks? Sitting down to play and constantly staring down a Lathril, an Ur-Dragon, and an Edgar Markov? Then maybe I can interest you in a Karona, False God deck. Karona takes those powerful tribal decks and cranks them into overdrive—just be careful to trick your opponents into fighting each other with this omni-lord.

#8. Eriette of the Charmed Apple

I love the idea of slamming Ethereal Armor or All That Glitters onto one of my opponents’ creatures and then using them as my beat stick for the rest of the game. Eriette of the Charmed Apple is the perfect politics commander for the Orzhov () auras player, and we have no shortage of beneficial and detrimental auras to choose from. Spirit Link and Vampiric Link’s un-keyworded lifelink effects get even better when we gain the life from that creature’s damage, rather than it’s controller!

#7. Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant

Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant takes the political game of forming alliances and throws it out the door. Karazikar instead forces your opponents to fight each other by goading their creatures—if we can attack all three enemy players each turn, they’re forced to fight each other with at least one creature. Then we get a Phyrexian Arena-style trigger each time our opponents attack one another—even if that creature wasn’t goaded by us! And hey, our opponents can draw a card too, just for going along with our dastardly plan.

#6. Mathas, Fiend Seeker

Place bounties on all of your opponents’ favorite creatures and watch everyone else burn removal on them while you assemble a perfect Most Wanted list. Like Breena, Mathas, Fiend Slayer rewards opponents with card draw for fighting each other. Mark your targets, but be sure to discuss beforehand who has what removal ready to go, lest we make some unwanted enemies.

#5. Edric, Spymaster of Trest

Edric, Spymaster of Trest rewards any player who attacks your opponents. Card draw is one of the most tempting ways to gain advantage in Commander, especially when it comes along as a bonus for doing what you were already planning to do, and at no extra mana! The best part of Edric is their color identity—Simic () lets you assemble combos and ramp at a rate only dreamed of by the other color combinations. While your foes are busy beating each other for extra cards, you’re slyly assembling a game-ending Intruder Alarm/Imperious Perfect combo.

#4. Tivit, Seller of Secrets

Tivit, Seller of Secrets starts generating value immediately when it hits the field and again whenever this evasive sphinx deals damage to a player. Tivit generates Treasure tokens or Clue tokens, depending on how the votes play out.

What’s best about Tivit is the additional vote it gives you whenever a card calls for a vote. Besides giving you twice as many tokens as you’d normally give yourself, this plays well into any of the council’s dilemma or will of the council effects you can slam into a Tivit deck. A single extra vote lets you control the outcome of your Expropriate and Council's Judgment, and fundamentally changes the math on how your opponents vote. They know that you’ll already get two votes to control the outcome of these spells, so instead of fighting against your choices, you can use these as opportunities to influence the board in their favor. Staring down a Darksteel Mutation’d Craterhoof Behemoth? Offer to blow up that aura in exchange for destroying the player who cast it.

#3. Breena, the Demagogue

Breena, the Demagogue incentivizes your opponents to attack each other, and spread their damage evenly amongst them. Drawing cards is one of the most valuable ways to generate advantage, and your power-hungry foes won’t be able to resist drawing into answers to take vengeance on each other. Say it with me: “Dance puppets, dance!”

#2. Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent is one of the most unique commanders in the game, and one of the best for the politically-minded player. Xantcha enters under the control of one of your opponents, becoming a 5/5 that must attack someone besides you every turn. Then, each player can pay to Shock Xantcha’s controller and draw a card. I’ve seen this best executed with Heartstone to cheapen their effect and Soul Channeling to keep them on the field.

#1. Zedruu the Greathearted

Zedruu the Greathearted is one of my all-time favorite commanders. Hailing from the original Commander 2011 decks, Zedruu has the unique ability to give a target opponent control of a permanent you control. Then, during each of your upkeeps, you gain life and draw cards equal to the number of your permanents that your opponents control. Often built as a group slug deck, wherein we gift punishing cards like Steel Golem and Aggressive Mining to our foes, Zedruu can be built at the helm of a deck full of beneficial or merely influential effects. Gift a Ghostly Prison to the player who you’ve deemed is being unfairly targeted, or pass your Wild Research to the player struggling to keep up with the tutors flying around the table.

Wrap Up

Edric, Spymaster of Trest | Illustration by Volkan Baga

Political commanders are more than just creatures that make your opponents attack each other instead of you—they give you the feeling of being a Machiavellian madman executing the greatest and most wily scheme ever concocted.

What are your favorite political commanders? Are there any obvious ones I missed? What are your favorite examples of playing politics at the table to your advantage? Let me know in the comments, or over on Draftsim’s socials!

Thanks for reading, and keep plotting!