The 15 Most Underrated Commanders in Magic Ranked

Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival | Illustration by Marta Nael

A while back I compiled a list of commanders that often come up in “overrated” conversations within the Commander community. I combed through tons of opinions and put a stamp on whether I thought some of Magic’s all-timer legends were, in fact, overrated. So naturally, my mind went from there to potentially underrated commanders.

My immediate discovery was that it’s way more difficult to peg something as underrated than it is to weed out potentially overrated commanders. But that’s the agenda today. My goal is to introduce you to some command zone alternatives you might not have considered before, or legends that are generally overlooked as potential commanders. Hopefully you walk away with a new project to work on!

What Makes a Commander Underrated?

Lagrella, the Magpie | Illustration by Donato Giancola

I’m using a pretty broad definition of “underrated” here, with the intent to highlight commanders outside the scope of the obvious best-in-class choices everyone’s well aware of.

Some amount of this is anecdotal, since these are commanders I don’t encounter often when playing Commander. Others were fielded from Commander players online (thanks to the r/EDH subreddit for the suggestions!).

To make this list, a commander has to be both underrepresented in some capacity while still being a strong contender for a commander. Underrated doesn’t mean bad, or underpowered, it just doesn’t show up as often as more popular commanders. In many cases, the entries on this list are the “second or third best choice” for any given archetype, and they live in the shadows of a more well-known alternative for their specific niche.

A couple minor criteria that formed a basis for my list:

• The card can’t appear on the Top 100 Commander list on EDHREC. Those cards are played at such a high clip that it’s hard to call any of them underrated.
• I soft avoided cards from the most recent sets (Lorwyn Eclipsed, TMNT, and Secrets of Strixhaven are t
• he newest sets at the time of writing). There are underrated commanders from these sets, but they haven’t had much time to really break out from the community’s initial reaction.
• The commander still has to be viable and form the basis of a strong Commander deck. This isn’t a list of cutesy Bracket 1 commanders, but rather commanders that people could consider for Brackets 3-4.
• I put no weight on cEDH, which would change the entire intent of the list.

With that in mind, enjoy the list, and let me know which commanders you’re playing that deserve more respect than they get. Note that the numbering of the list below is completely arbitrary.

#15. Nymris, Oona’s Trickster

Nymris, Oona's Trickster is one of the few commanders on this list that I have personal experience with. I run this as my resident control deck when I know I’m up against stiff competition, and it plays well.

As far as “flash-matters” commanders go, Alela, Cunning Conqueror is the go-to, and a stronger card for sure, but the card advantage that Nymris offers is fantastic. You can operate almost entirely at instant speed, and the 6-toughness stat line plays defense well while you interact and stack up cards.

My only issue is that it’s tough to close out games without resorting to cheese like Nexus of Fate and Hullbreaker Horror, but those lines are available at higher brackets.

#14. Norin the Wary

This one’s a bit of a head-scratcher for the uninitiated. Norin the Wary looks like nonsense, but it’s all about what you combine it with. All your typical impact effects work wonders when you’re all but guaranteed a trigger once per turn, four times per turn cycle.

Take things up a notch with Confusion in the Ranks and Genesis Chamber to get the most out of your scaredy-cat commander.

Norin sits in the 300s on EDHREC, which means there are plenty of people out there playing it. But a well-built Norin deck can be impressively (and oppressively) strong, so I’d venture to say it could creep into the low 200s at some point.

#13. Yasharn, Implacable Earth

Forget about hatebears, we’re playing hateboars now. Yasharn, Implacable Earth heads a stax-style deck incredibly well, though it’s more of a meta call than anything. The ability to shut down life payments and sacrifices actually locks out a lot of strategies. Treasure and other artifact tokens no longer work, players can’t crack fetch lands, and aristocrat decks are going to have trouble getting their engines started.

You also get two lands when Yasharn enters, so you start off with a 3-for-1 that ensures you hit your land drops.

The question with Yasharn is how you intend to win, since the elemental boar isn’t very proactive on its own. Surround it with more prison pieces, combine it with landfall abilities, or maybe consider GW legends-matter. Whatever you do, be careful not to nonbo yourself with cards that are shut down by your own commander’s ability (maybe leave the Windswept Heath in another deck).

#12. Imodane, the Pyrohammer

Imodane, the Pyrohammer earns its underrated status by coexisting with Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might. The Ixalan god is more potent and resilient of a burn commander, and it’s the better choice for blitzing tables down, but Imodane has equally powerful burn potential and operates in a way that’s unique from other burn staples.

Most burn commanders thrive by amplifying the damage dealt directly to players, which has earned burn a reputation for being difficult to pull off in Commander. But Imodane just bounces burn off of creatures, which lets you focus on controlling the board while incidentally lowering life totals.

Imodane is also absurd with damage doublers, since they’ll amplify the damage dealt to a creature, then double it again when it hits your opponents. And that’s “opponents”, plural. Imagine a Lightning Bolt while you control Furnace of Rath. It deals 6 to a creature and 12 to each opponent. You even get burn damage off damaging your own creatures, so it’s functional against semi-creatureless decks.

#11. Queza, Augur of Agonies

Queza, Augur of Agonies hovers around the mid-200s on EDHREC, which is an indication of a commander that sees a healthy amount of play. But for anyone who’s ever looked at the uncommon symbol and the barebones textbox and moved on, you might want to put a little more respect on this octopus’s name.

Queza’s strength is being a plug-and-play commander for just about any strategy you want to play in Esper () colors. You know what every Esper deck likes to do? Draw cards, and lots of them. Queza becomes a wincon and stabilizer while you do whatever other Espery things you’re going to do, and it doesn’t draw the immediate ire of the table since it’s not overtly overpowered.

#10. Rionya, Fire Dancer

Another mono-red commander, eh? Rionya, Fire Dancer plays on a much different axis, rewarding spellslinging plus value creatures at the same time. It requires a delicate balance of ways to storm off, plus creatures worth actually copying, and that balance makes it a tough commander to build and pilot.

Rionya plays exceptionally well with rituals. Firing off a Jeska's Will or Mana Geyser into another ritual not only gives you the mana to drop some haymaker creature, but it also charges up the storm count to get a bunch of copies right away.

#9. Horobi, Death’s Wail

Horobi, Death's Wail is a control commander for a… certain kind of player. It’s the one commander I included that I think is simultaneously underrated and also miserable to play, both with and against.

Horobi makes creatures untargetable. Not in the sense that they can’t be targeted, but rather than any targeting just destroys the creature. That shuts down equipment and auras on the spot, but it also turns harmless effects like a Scuttlemutt activation into repeatable removal. Basically, no one gets to keep creatures in play.

The problem is that Horobi isn’t immune to its own ability and you can’t Lightning Greaves it either, so you’re as much a sitting duck as everyone else. This is a meta choice against a playground of battlecruiser players who don’t run interaction and instead toss out giant creature after giant creature. But come with a game plan, because those people won’t be happy you brought Horobi to the table.

#8. Jhoira, Ageless Innovator

Had this card been reskinned as some other character, it might actually see more play. As it stands, people look at Jhoira, Ageless Innovator and wonder why they wouldn’t just play Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain instead.

True, the 4-mana Jhoira has a reputation, but don’t underestimate this 2-mana commander. Simply tapping to put artifacts into play cheats on a lot of mana, and this racks up quickly, to the point where you’re dropping Wondrous Crucible and Platinum Emperion into play in just a few turns, at instant speed.

Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor plays around in the same space, but the blue-red color identity on Jhoira expands the types of artifacts you can cheat into play.

#7. King of the Oathbreakers

King of the Oathbreakers is one of the only commanders in the game that you don’t have to pay commander tax for. Because it never dies.

Phasing is incredible protection in EDH, the best it gets if you want to keep your creatures around, and this spirit commander makes it very difficult for your opponents to interact with your spirits. They’re semi-immune to targeted removal, and you can force the issue yourself and use jank like Heaven's Gate and Remedy as board-wide protection.

And each time you phase something out, it phases in with another 1/1 flier, so protecting your board becomes your wincon in a roundabout way. I’ve got a lot of respect for a commander that’s hard to kill and that pressures opponents while playing defense.

#6. Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea

I wanted to make sure green was represented somewhere on this list. Thanks to everyone who suggested Seton, Krosan Protector. It’s a cool commander for an under-developed creature type, but pretty one-note.

I landed on Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea as a mono-green representative instead. Fewer than 1,000 decks on EDHREC seems criminal for what this card does. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say it’s unpopular because it looks like a worse version of Selvala, Heart of the Wilds or Marwyn, the Nurturer. That could be true, but this is a classic example of the second/third best option still being pretty strong. Plus, not being on peoples’ radar can be a boon at the Commander table.

Gwenna offers massive ramp potential. Any time you cast a 5+ power creature, you get at least 4 mana from Gwenna that turn, and you can get even more by casting multiple threats. This builds out a board of beaters quick, and it even becomes a large threat itself, so your commander can contribute to combat. Being an elf matters too, and it goes nuts with Monstrous Vortex and Eshki, Temur's Roar.

#5. Gut, True Soul Zealot

If you count all the possible background pairings, you’ll see a few thousand lists for Gut, True Soul Zealot, though not nearly as many as I’d imagine for a commander this strong and this customizable. The damage output on Gut is just unreal, and that’s without considering the background you pair it with. Agent of the Iron Throne is the most common, giving you a Rakdos sacrifice deck, though Inspiring Leader is close, pushing in a Boros aggro/tokens direction.

Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned here about the types of games people want to play in casual Commander. A bunch of these entries ended up being red commanders with massive damage potential. Hell, Slicer, Hired Muscle is only in the 400s on EDHREC, and that’s a messed up card. Seems commanders like this take a hit in popularity because fewer people are interested in building all-in aggro decks in EDH.

If you are interested, Gut is a quick way to pressure opponent. Those skeletons come in tapped and attacking with menace, they don’t sacrifice at end of turn, and you can get one without ever having to attack with the goblin itself. Sacrificing artifacts to get your tokens adds another direction you can take the deck.

#4. Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival

You’re missing out if you’ve never tried a “cast-from-exile” deck. They’re heavily supported, especially with all of red’s impulse draws, and they’re fun to pilot. Pilot joke, because you know, Pia.

Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival is a cheap commander that creates a flock (Clank? Thop? Whir?) of thopter tokens with haste. That haste applies to other thopters you end up with, by the way. Red takes care of most of the exile-casting, while white offers disruption and artifact support.

The top end isn’t as strong as, say, Prosper, Tome-Bound or Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, but that’s kind of how commanders end up “underrated” in the first place, isn’t it?

#3. Lagrella, the Magpie

With the textbox of an average Yu-Gi-Oh! card, Lagrella, the Magpie proves that reading the card never really explained the card. If you can decipher the text, you’ll find an unsung hero of Bant () blink decks, one that’s often overlooked by virtue of being an uncommon commander, as well as being overshadowed by many more prevalent commanders in the flicker space.

In layman’s terms, Lagrella exiles up to one creature from each player as long as you control it, but yours comes back with two +1/+1 counters when Lagrella leaves. Imagine Grasp of Fate in your command zone, but you can also tuck away your own ETB creature for guaranteed value at some point later that game.

Lagrella’s a great way to keep pace with everyone on curve, and it gives flicker decks an effective alternative to more heavily-played blink commanders.

#2. Toshiro Umezawa

It’s almost as easy to overlook legends from original Kamigawa block as it is to overlook commanders with “Umezawa” somewhere in their name. Toshiro Umezawa is not one such commander.

Erase bushido for a moment and focus on the death trigger, which lets you chain instants from your graveyard whenever an opponent’s creature dies. This lets you snipe down creatures early on, then rattle off a few extra spells once you’ve stocked up your graveyard. You’ll want to go heavy on removal, but pack a few instant speed draw effects to cap off your chains.

All-in-all, this is a fragile commander with a cool ability, and one I’ve heard mentioned often as peoples’ “pet deck”, despite existing around #1,000 on EDHREC. Kaervek, the Punisher has a similar build-up and is currently a few hundred spots below Toshiro, despite being a much newer card. I expect if you’re playing one, you’ll want the other.

#1. Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier

Zada, Hedron Grinder is sort of a known factor. It’s mono-colored and it promotes exactly one strategy, so you know what you’re up against when you face down Zada. Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier expands into two colors and triggers off abilities rather than spells, which opens up a ton of deckbuilding opportunities.

Instead of trying to mass copy Expedites and Crimson Wisps, Agrus Kos rewards targeted abilities like The Jolly Balloon Man and Luminarch Aspirant. It’s not cheap to get this all going by any means, but it’s a fairly unique ability for a Boros commander while still playing with all the classic Boros staples.

I credit its relative obscurity to being a Jumpstart 2022 card, which produced a ton of interesting but unknown legendary creatures.

Commanding Conclusion

Nymris, Oona's Trickster | Illustration by Johannes Voss

Here comes the moment of truth: Are you interested in building any of these commanders now? Better yet, do you already run one of these and have more insight into why it might not be as popular as it could be?

If nothing else, I hope to have shone a light on some lesser known commanders, or at least inspired your next deckbuilding project. Got an underrated commander you’d like to shout out? Let us know in the comments down below or in the Draftsim Discord, and check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

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