The 21 Best New Secrets of Strixhaven Commanders Ranked

Last updated on April 24, 2026

Zaffai and the Tempests | Illustration by Olivier Bernard

Secrets of Strixhaven is finally here, and that means we have a batch of commanders to review! These range in power from potentially busted to extremely cut, with instants and sorceries being a recurring theme, as one would expect for the school of mages. But spellslinger commanders aren’t the only thing that this set supports, so let’s find you your next build-around project!

How Many Commanders Are There in Secrets of Strixhaven?

Prismari, the Inspiration | Illustration by Justin Gerard

In total, 73 eligible commanders were printed in Secrets of Strixhaven; that number includes the main set, the Commander decks, and the Special Guests along with all reprints therein. Splitting the reprints apart, we got 37 reprints (concentrated in the precons, while Codie, Vociferous Codex and Adrix and Nev, Twincasters appear as Special Guests) and 36 new commanders.

This is a sharp uptick from Lorwyn Eclipsed, which had a total of 33 commanders. Most of the difference comes from the reprints—ECL only had 12, so SOS has nearly three times that number, plus about a third more new commanders. This is partially due to the cast size of Strixhaven; all the elder dragons and the students we were introduced to in the first Strixhaven set got new cards plus reprints in their respective precons, and we had five new students from ECL. This is markedly less than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ 104 commanders, but in-universe sets rarely compete with Universes Beyond sets in the legend count.

#21. Mica, Reader of Ruins

Mica, Reader of Ruins probably won’t put up any results in cEDH tournaments, but a spell copy effect that costs no additional mana is pretty sick. You can tap a Fire Diamond to pay for Volcanic Vision, then sacrifice it the copy the spell. Even better, you can give up a random Treasure token.

#20. Moseo, Vein’s New Dean

A good lifegain deck needs a solid payoff, and Moseo, Vein's New Dean has that with its infusion ability. You can’t rely on the Pest token alone, but black has other ways to gain life. I imagine this works best as a midrange commander that focuses on recurring efficient yet deadly threats rather than a traditional combo reanimation commander that wants to get massive monsters back.

#19. Excava, the Risen Past

Excava, the Risen Past has an incredibly unique attack trigger that throws permanents into play from the graveyard. Ostensibly designed as a leaves the graveyard enabler for Lorehold () decks, the card has many more applications, especially if you can cheat the finality counters.

#18. Blech, Loafing Pest

Blech, Loafing Pest bundles every creepy crawler creature type under a single umbrella with a reasonable buff to all. It encourages an aggressive deck, and Golgari () has the stuff to back it up with plenty of ways to gain life and synergize with those +1/+1 counters.

#17. Prismari, the Inspiration

While Prismari, the Inspiration boasts an incredibly powerful ability, it comes with an extremely high cost—that of the commander. Giving your spells storm enables explosive turns but the barrier of 7 mana is immense. It’s unlikely you can storm off the turn you land Prismari without a line that involves Seething Song into the commander, and it offers no meaningful value without the storm ability. That’s going to force it to be a relatively casual commander; really just another big, expensive bomb.

#16. Lluwen, Exchange Student

I’m a big fan of leaves the graveyard synergies, which is exactly where Lluwen, Exchange Student sends my mind since its prepared ability triggers cards like Insidious Roots and Fang, Fearless l'Cie for 0 mana.

#15. Zaffai and the Tempests

Zaffai and the Tempests is easily the most extra turns commander ever to want extra turns. You could theoretically take infinite turns the moment it hits play, though you need decent card advantage to keep the turns flowing. Note that automatically puts it in Bracket 4 territory since lower brackets don’t chain turns.

Outside the obvious extra turn synergies, Zaffai and friends is a fine big spellslinger commander for cards like Aminatou's Augury and Volcanic Vision.

#14. Dina, Essence Brewer

Dina, Essence Brewer hits a lot of interesting notes. It’s pretty close to Morbid Opportunist in the command zone, which offers a level of flat value to Golgari sacrifice decks. Then we get to the sacrifice ability, which introduces lifegain and +1/+1 counters as possible synergies to build around. You could focus on either of those aspects or focus on messing around with natively large creatures like Yargle and Multani. It offers plenty of options, which is cool, though I recommend that you keep things to at least a sacrifice theme.

#13. Lorehold, the Historian

Lorehold, the Historian brings a miraculous touch to your next spellslinger deck. It might be the most novel elder dragon from the set that utilizes extremely powerful and highly specific synergies with cards like Scroll Rack, Sensei's Divining Top, and Library of Leng.

#12. Aziza, Mage Tower Captain

Aziza, Mage Tower Captain doubles up on spells. Since it wants you to have a wide board, it’s natural to reach for token strategies. Instants and sorceries can build up your board (Release the Dogs, Finale of Glory) or provide finishers via temporary anthems (Great Train Heist, Lorehold Command).

#11. Killian, Decisive Mentor

Killian, Decisive Mentor gives enchantress decks a goaded spin. Enchanting your opponents’ creatures has a surprising amount of support with the Impetus cards Wizards sneaks into precons here and there, and it makes for a fun political commander as you send opposing threats around the table and draw cards.

#10. Primo, the Unbounded

Primo, the Unbounded makes a surprisingly good case for being a hydra commander despite lacking the type. Hydras are perfect to capitalize on Primo’s saboteur trigger and swarm the board with Fractal tokens. Importantly, this card is templated like Professional Face-Breaker, so you get a Fractal per player hit for up to three tokens a turn (maybe more if you want to get frisky with Doubling Season).

#9. Quintorius, History Chaser

Red-white leaves the graveyard is a relatively underdeveloped archetype but Quintorius, History Chaser ensures it gets a good commander. The static ability is a powerful payoff while the uptick ensures you don’t run out of cards to remove from the graveyard. I recommend an artifact theme with cards like Ghost Vacuum and Relic of Progenitus to mess with your graveyard.

#8. Muddle, the Ever-Changing

I prefer muddling limes to art, but Muddle, the Ever-Changing might change those priorities. This is a fantastic play on a spellslinger commander that does something novel with its trigger. Myriad lets you reuse powerful enters abilities on cards like Mulldrifter and Archaeomancer, or you could mess around with flash enablers like Hypersonic Dragon and Leyline of Anticipation to craft weird combats where you win with three Storm-Kiln Artists in play.

#7. Gorma, the Gullet

Gorma, the Gullet screams combo commander. It enables a number of easy infinites with the ability that gives other creatures +1/+1 counters because it allows you to sacrifice any persist creature like Putrid Goblin infinitely. You can also feed off the sacrifice loop with the ever-lethal Agatha's Soul Cauldron/Walking Ballista pairing. Don’t expect to see this in many fair contexts.

#6. Berta, Wise Extrapolator

Berta, Wise Extrapolator works best as a combo commander. The easiest combo is (unsurprisingly) Intruder Alarm; Berta and the Alarm are a two-card infinite combo since you can pay X=0 and just make Fractal tokens that die but still trigger the Alarm, which has various combo applications. Even if you avoid the combo route, Berta seems great for +1/+1 counter decks. Every time you proliferate, put counters across the board, double counters, etc., you get mana in return which enables long, winding turns.

#5. Zimone, Infinite Analyst

Zimone, Infinite Analyst works wonders for X-spell decks. The cost reduction stacks extremely quickly, especially if you speed it up with cards like Hardened Scales and Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. Once you get some counters, you can counter spells, draw cards, or pump out massive hydras to dominate the game. It offers such a huge mana advantage that you should have no issues winning if you keep it around.

#4. Rootha, Mastering the Moment

Rootha, Mastering the Moment turns big instants and sorceries into equally large tokens. That makes it a perfect commander to exploit extra combat and extra turn spells. It’s important to note that you keep the token, so it builds a board pretty quickly. Also, it doesn’t care about the amount of mana spent on the biggest spell you cast like other Prismari cards () in this set, so a Mizzix's Mastery that casts Rise of the Eldrazi gets a 12/12 token. It seems perfectly pair.

#3. Quandrix, the Proof

Quandrix, the Proof puts one of Magic’s best mechanics on every instant and sorcery you cast. Slapping cascade on so many spells does impose a deckbuilding restriction since most countermagic is off the table, but that’s fine when you can just overwhelm your opponents with value—who doesn’t love an Aminatou's Augury that hits a little extra card draw or ramp?

#2. Silverquill, the Disputant

Silverquill, the Disputant merges spellslinger with aristocratic strategies thanks to its casualty ability, and it might be the elder dragon I’m most excited to build around. Doubling spells offers plenty of value, but exploiting death triggers makes them even better. Two Bitter Triumphs that draw a card off Midnight Reaper is a massive swing, and just the tip of what you can do with this card.

#1. Witherbloom, the Balancer

Wizards had to be making a pun with Witherbloom, the Balancer given the spikes that affinity for creatures offers. Sprout Swarm is a particular beast since it’s a 0-mana infinite combo, but other token producers like Awaken the Woods and Pest Infestation spiral out of control until you snowball into a Torment of Hailfire.

Commanding Conclusion

Gorma, the Gullet | Illustration by Brian Valeza

Overall, I’m really pleased with the commanders from Secrets of Strixhaven. There are a couple of notably powerful commanders alongside lots of solid options and a few interesting build-arounds. I can’t really point towards any one major archetype lacking support, and it feels like everybody got a decent card this time around.

What did you think about the commanders of SOS? Are you looking forward to building any of them? Let me know in the comments below! For more Secrets of Strixhaven coverage, don’t forget to check out Draftsim’s YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!