The 32 Best Extra Turn Commanders in Magic Ranked

Medomai the Ageless | Illustration by David Palumbo

Taking turns in Magic is super fun—it’s when all the good stuff happens! Thus, taking extra turns is even better since you literally play more Magic than your opponent. That’s pretty important in Commander, when the opposition gets three turns to your one.

Extra turns can be salt-inducing because they’re extremely powerful and monopolize gameplay time, but they’re still an important part of the format. If you want to play extra turn spells, check out these commanders!

What Are Extra Turn Commanders?

Narset, Enlightened Master | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Few commanders generate infinite turns, so this list focuses on commanders that work very well with extra turn spells. That includes commanders that facilitate infinite turn combos, commanders with upkeep, combat, or attack triggers that benefit from extra turns, commanders that cast expensive spells for little to no mana, and so on. One consequence of caring about extra turns is that these commanders all have blue in their color identity.

#32. Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel

Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel always loves extra turn spells; they either accrue chorus counters so you can start to cast free spells sooner or give you additional combats to cast free spells. You might say that extra turns are a cheap way to generate value, but a commander like Malcolm needs all the help it can get.

#31. Eluge, the Shoreless Sea

Eluge, the Shoreless Sea helps to cast those extra turn spells with its cost reduction, which is always nice. It also ends up being an extremely large body to maximize all those extra combats.

#30. Marvo, Deep Operative

Clash goes well with extra turn spells being expensive, so Marvo, Deep Operative is very interested in them. They’re also great to cast for free, which lets you attack and clash again! You can even set up lengthy value chains with cards like Halo-Charged Skaab and Meldweb Curator that put the extra turn spell back on top of your library.

#29. Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar

The extra turn goodness comes from Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar, not Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. If you get the ultimate you can win pretty easily; half your deck probably has all the extra turns you need to close. Even if you don’t get there, Regrowth in the command zone works well with extra turn spells that don’t exile themselves on resolution.

#28. Minn, Wily Illusionist

Extra turns mean more opportunities for Minn, Wily Illusionist to create illusions and for you to attack with them. You can also set up pretty cool infinite turn loops: A Crystal Shard, an Archaeomancer, and a sacrifice outlet takes you pretty far.

#27. Felix Five-Boots

Felix Five-Boots works with extra turn spells because they lead to extra combats, which in turn means extra combat damage triggers to double. Coastal Piracy effects are premium if you want to chain extra turn spells, or you can just look to meaty triggers like Fallen Shinobi and Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion.

#26. Narset, Enlightened Exile

Narset, Enlightened Exile needs work since its power has to be at least 5 to cast extra turns, but the reward is worth it. Imagine: You cast Time Warp, attack with Narset, cast it again, and set yourself up for another fantastic turn.

#25. Jin-Gitaxias / The Great Synthesis

Jin-Gitaxias takes a very long time to become interesting; I don’t love it until the third chapter of The Great Synthesis. But extra turn spells are perfect here on two accounts: They’re wonderful spells to cast for free on that third chapter, and they minimize the time you need to wait to reach it.

#24. Medomai the Ageless

Medomai the Ageless is one of the only commanders that makes extra turns itself, and it’s a surprisingly fair extra turn spell: It’s telegraphed and easy to interact with, and it can’t chain extra turns. The best way to turn Medomai into a win is to surround it with flying creatures for a swift aggressive win.

#23. Maelstrom Wanderer

Maelstrom Wanderer tends to lead good-stuff piles and extra turn spells are little more than good spells. They’re particularly nice to cascade into, which you can set up with little effort with cards like Sensei's Divining Top and Brainstorm. Since Maelstrom Wanderer has over 7 power, you can even use it to snipe players with commander damage.

#22. Zaffai and the Tempests

Zaffai and the Tempests debuted recently, and all anyone could think of was extra turns. Since you can cast a spell for free, it’s easy to take endless turns: Drop Zaffai, play a Temporal Mastery, then next turn play another extra turn spell. Magic becomes solitaire! Your opponents are only spared by the high cost, which gives them time to find disruption.

#21. Quandrix, the Proof

Extra turn spells work well with Quandrix, the Proof because the ramp-heavy commander demands big instants and sorceries. Cascade also plays nicely with them because cascading into a creature makes Time Warp impact the board. If you ever cascade an extra turn spell into another, you feel like you’ve won.

#20. Emet-Selch, Unsundered / Hades, Sorcerer of Eld

Emet-Selch, Unsundered has a looting attack trigger that extra turns can double up on, but you want Hades, Sorcerer of Eld. As long as you stick extra turn spells in the graveyard, you can chain multiple turns with ease. Hades is a fairly beefy creature, so you can slap on some equipment and have a weird Dimir () Voltron deck, though the best way to leverage Hades is a storm-style combo deck, as befits Yawgmoth's Will on a stick.

#19. Talrand, Sky Summoner

The extra turn spells in a Talrand, Sky Summoner deck serve as finishers. Mono-blue might not get many mass pump effects like Overrun (though Talrand’s daughter, Alandra, Sky Dreamer works), so a few extra turns to let your drakes attack four or five times will have to do.

#18. Glarb, Calamity’s Augur

Glarb, Calamity's Augur plays well with all expensive spells; extra turns just happen to be one such category. Extra turns are especially potent with green, which provides ramp for ease of casting and Regrowth effects for ease of chaining.

#17. Kang the Conqueror

Kang the Conqueror is basically 8 mana for an extra turn no matter how you drum it up. Even with the power-up discount the turn Kang enters, you're still paying 8 mana for that extra turn. The advantage here is blinking or cloning Kang to get around the one-time activation. Like Medomai, there are some contingencies in place to avoid taking infinite turns, though half the fun is trying to circumvent those constraints.

#16. Satya, Aetherflux Genius

Satya, Aetherflux Genius is really flexible here because you can dial it up to be a broken combo engine or a value commander that simply enjoys an enters effect. The combo involves Archaeomancer and similar effects; you can make a copy, return a Time Warp to your hand, and cast it over and over. Or you can just slap a Time Warp and a Temporal Manipulation in your deck for the odd double combat trigger.

#15. Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

A surprising number of extra turn spells have odd costs, so they’re perfect with Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign. Attack, get an extra turn, attack again. It’s a simple formula, but you’ll find it quite effective.

#14. Don & Leo, Problem Solvers

Don & Leo, Problem Solvers made the cut as an infinite turn combo engine. The setup is super simple: Control D&L and an Archaeomancer, then cast Time Warp. In your end step, flicker the Archaeomancer, get the Time Warp back, and cast it again next turn.

There’s lots of redundancy here; four or five cards can replace each part of the combo. It’s just convenient to have one in your hand every game, plus D&L generates plenty of value to win the game through extra turn hate.

#13. Edric, Spymaster of Trest

Edric, Spymaster of Trest is a classic extra turns commander. The idea is that you run every Slither Blade/Triton Shorestalker variant, all the 1- or 2-mana unblockable creatures. In combat, they draw five or six cards, so you find a Time Warp; then you draw five cards next turn for your next extra turn spell, and so on until you hit Craterhoof Behemoth or Beastmaster Ascension to win the game.

#12. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow

Ninjas are naturally synergistic with extra turn spells because their abilities focus on combat and saboteur triggers. Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow is the best ninja commander and happens to work nicely with big, expensive spells like Time Stretch.

#11. Vivi Ornitier

Vivi Ornitier produces an absurd amount of mana that plays well with extra turn spells: You can cast them, then you get more turns to storm off with Vivi.

While commanders here want the blue extra turn spells, high-powered Vivi decks are an excellent home for the red gambling extra turns like Warrior's Oath and Final Fortune; with the right combos, one turn is all you need.

#10. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned

Do I need to explain? Lier, Disciple of the Drowned gives you extra turn spells get flashback, so every extra turn is actually two. That’s incredibly broken before you start considering how easily blue can go infinite with them.

#9. Ezuri, Claw of Progress

Ezuri, Claw of Progress has a specific infinite turn combo: If you control Ezuri and Sage of Hours, plus at least five experience counters, you can take infinite turns.

Even without the Sage, extra turns are still useful in an explosive, aggressive deck like this; give Ezuri, a Walking Ballista, and an Ouroboroid two or three turns and they should clean up the game nicely.

#8. Cormela, Glamour Thief

Cormela, Glamour Thief provides the mana to power out extra turn spells plus a Regrowth to stick them back in your hand to play later. Cormela’s known for its loops with cards like Saw in Half, so I’m certain you can take a combo angle with an extra turn spell or two.

#7. Elminster

Extra turn spells are perfect with Elminster. The cost reduction makes them cheap, plus they tend to be expensive enough that you want to exile them with the -3. They also work well with the Faerie Dragon tokens since extra turns plus an aggressive board state often equals a win.

#6. Obeka, Splitter of Seconds

Obeka, Splitter of Seconds works well with extra turn spells because extra turns lead to even more upkeeps. It scales incredibly well since Obeka gives you three upkeeps a turn; an extra combat means six triggers of Twilight Prophet, Court of Ambition, Decorum Dissertation, and anything else Obeka runs before your opponents even untap.

#5. Rootha, Mastering the Moment

Extra turn spells play well into Rootha, Mastering the Moment on two accounts. Firstly, they’re often expensive, so you get a big elemental on your combat step; secondly, the extra turns stack elementals extremely well, giving you a surge of damage your opponents will struggle to handle.

#4. Loot, the Key to Everything

Mass card draw works well with extra turns because you can chain them and snowball into a massive advantage. Loot, the Key to Everything does this quite well; it draws four or five cards each upkeep with very little effort. Stack your decks with extra turns and a couple Regrowth effects and your opponents will never see another turn. All the mana green makes is crucial to this strategy, too.

#3. Narset, Enlightened Master

Pack enough extra turn spells in your deck and Narset, Enlightened Master feels like a one-card infinite combo, even if it isn’t deterministic. It needs help with evasion from a card like Access Tunnel or Aqueous Form, but you can expect to throw down lots of extra turns.

#2. Tivit, Seller of Secrets

Tivit, Seller of Secrets is primarily here for the Time Sieve combo that made it relevant in cEDH of all places, but you can play it more casually: A great attack trigger that comes with a surge of mana is perfectly suitable to pair with Temporal Trespass and what have you.

#1. Storm, Force of Nature

There are several ways to build Storm, Force of Nature. When I’m thinking of it as an extra turns commander, I expect a midrange deck that establishes a stompy board, then leverages Storm’s combat trigger to copy Time Warp so you can take three or four turns to overcome three opponents.

What Bracket Are Extra Turn Commanders Appropriate In?

The Bracket system is pretty clear about extra turns: Bracket 1 gets no extra turns, 2 and 3 can play them but not chain them, and 4 and 5 have no restrictions. You can play extra turns in most Brackets, but it’s worth considering what “chaining” turns means.

In my opinion, chaining turns means building a deck with the intent to play multiple extra turn spells in a row without a clear combo finish. Two commanders that illustrate this are Loot, the Key to Everything and Edric, Spymaster of Trest: These decks play endless extra turn spells and hog the table. You can also chain extra turn spells by stacking your deck with a bunch of Regrowth effects.

Two things I wouldn’t consider as “chaining turns” are infinite turns combos and playing two extra turn spells with no recursion. The big reason not to chain turns in lower Brackets is to avoid making Commander a game of solitaire. An infinite turns combo shouldn’t do this because once you establish your loop, the game ought to end; it’s unreasonable to imagine a player who insists on playing it out. As long as the combo itself is appropriate for the Bracket, I don’t care about the result; infinite turns is as lethal and quick as infinite damage. Similarly, I wouldn’t consider taking two extra turns in a row chaining. If your Obeka, Splitter of Seconds deck has two extra turns and happens to draw them at the same time, that’s just how it goes. If you can’t recur or copy them several times over, I wouldn’t consider it chaining turns.

Of course, this is all my opinion, and your mileage may vary; different players and play groups want different things, so talk to the people you play with and figure out what they like.

What Are the Best Extra Turn Cards in Commander?

For my money, Time Warp, Capture of Jingzhou, and Temporal Manipulation are top-tier because 5 mana is the minimum for an extra turn spell with no complications, and they don’t exile themselves on resolution, which is essential for infinite combos; most extra turn infinites rely on recursion from the graveyard.

If you’re going heavy on ramp, focusing on cheating cards, or working to copy extra turn spells, Rise of the Eldrazi, Karn's Temporal Sundering, and Expropriate are the cream of the crop. Part the Waterveil is also pretty sick to copy when for its awaken cost.

Temporal Mastery and Temporal Trespass are notable as extra turn spells that you can cast at an extreme discount with a little effort.

There are plenty of other extra turn spells, but these are my top options and the first ones I’d consider for these commanders.

How Do You Beat Extra Turn Commanders?

There are a few paths you can take to punishing extra turns, including cards that directly stop them, group slug effects, and a few general tips.

Some cards directly stop extra turns: Trouble in Pairs is absolutely the best because it’s a great card even if nobody has an extra turn spell, but Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant, Stranglehold, and Ugin's Nexus are all potential hate cards, in descending order of usefulness.

Group slug or punisher effects can also be effective. Cards like Sulfuric Vortex, Roiling Vortex, and Gleeful Arsonist keep the pressure on your opponents even as they take extra turns. Card draw hate like Razorkin Needlehead and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse are similarly useful.

There are also a few ways to interact with the general game plan. Counterspells are effective since extra turns are generally expensive sorceries. Since most extra turn combos involve the graveyard, graveyard hate like Rest in Peace and Relic of Progenitus can set them behind. These decks also need lots of mana, so playing cards that interrupt an opposing ramp engine can also slow the extra turns player down enough for the table to beat them down before they take over. Remember kids, attack the blue control player! Don’t give them free time to set up!

Commanding Conclusion

Lier, Disciple of the Drowned | Illustration by Ekaterina Burmak

Extra turns are controversial in Commander and pretty salt-inducing, but they have a place in the format like everything else. These commanders are excellent options for taking advantage of some of blue’s best cards.

Which extra turn commander is your favorite? How do you feel about chaining turns? Let me know in the comments below! If you want more Draftsim coverage, check out our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!