The 30 Most Underrated Simic Commanders in Magic Ranked

Tanazir Quandrix | Illustration by Raymond Swanland

Simic () has some of the scariest commanders, especially in casual play. Monsters like Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, and Hakbal of the Surging Soul have thousands and thousands of decks to their name due to their power. But what about the lesser-known commanders?

The lower ranks of popularity are filled with powerful, unique commanders that still draw on the classic archetypes one expects from Simic like +1/+1 counters, ramp, and landfall, alongside many others. Though these commanders aren’t topping EDHREC, they’re still worth considering for your next brew.

What Are Underrated Simic Commanders in MTG?

Berta, Wise Extrapolator | Illustration by Tuan Duong Chu

Underrated Simic commanders have a blue-green color identity and fewer than 3,500 decks registered on EDHREC, which I’m using as the cut-off for a popular deck. These commanders might not be popular because they’ve been power crept, or have niche synergies, or just aren’t as flashy as top-tier commanders like Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait and Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy, but they still have plenty of potential.

#30. The Goose Mother

The Goose Mother is a strong food commander; green gives access to all the key food cards like Tireless Provisioner and Peregrin Took while it supplements blue’s busted artifact cards like Urza, Lord High Artificer or Cyberdrive Awakener. It’s been pretty overshadowed by Ygra, Eater of All, but this bird hydra has the colors to make its deck pop off.

#29. Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres

Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres is a little costly; 4 mana for the commander plus 3 for the double proliferate marks this as a secret 7-mana commander, and not an impressive one. The trick is to pair it with flicker effects like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Y'shtola Rhul so you can repeatedly pay to proliferate twice. It doesn’t take many instances of that to start ultimating planeswalkers or to achieve a Simic Ascendancy wincon.

#28. Michelangelo, the Heart + Donatello, the Brains

Michelangelo, the Heart pairs very well with Donatello, the Brains; they curve into each other and Michelangelo makes tokens to enable Donatello’s ability. You also have lots of flexibility as you decide between +1/+1 counters or artifact tokens—the latter seems stronger but both are respectable.

#27. Eligeth, Crossroads Augur + Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix

Another partner pair, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix works well with Eligeth, Crossroads Augur on two accounts. The first is the curve: You can consistently play a 2-mana ramp spell into Kydele, followed by Eligeth. Then Eligeth’s card draw ability provides fodder to make Kydele tap for unfair amounts of mana and the resources to spend it. It’s so easy to scry a bunch with cards like Elven Farsight and Mystic Speculation.

#26. Sakashima of a Thousand Faces + Kodama of the East Tree

Kodama of the East Tree is one of the more formidable Kodamas in the game; putting permanents into play for free is never fair and often strong. So why not do it twice with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces? The big trick here is to set up infinite combos with Simic Growth Chamber or Shrieking Drake since the two abilities play off one another.

#25. Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios / Journey to the Oracle

Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios has a hefty mana cost, but also an ability to match. Casting spells for is an absurd discount. Why yes, I’d love to Worldly Tutor an Emrakul, the World Anew and cast it for another ! Blue’s great at setting up the top of your library with cards like Brainstorm and Brainsurge, which incidentally trigger magecraft. You could also make it a storm commander, relying on the mana discount to make your Mind's Desire most explosive.

#24. Vorel of the Hull Clade

Vorel of the Hull Clade is a fairly old commander with some juicy synergies when it comes to counter doubling. The classic choice is Darksteel Reactor for a quick alternative win condition, but you can use it for regular value with cards like a Hydroid Krasis to make your creatures huge. Something cool about Vorel is how Wizards keeps printing cards dependent on counters—The Millennium Calendar and Insight Engine come to mind as fairly recent upgrades.

#23. The Astonishing Ant-Man

The Astonishing Ant-Man is a pretty recent edition that was lost among the hundreds of Marvel Super Heroes commanders. It converts +1/+1 counters—a staple of Simic—into tokens, which easily take over the game with cards like Beastmaster Ascension or Craterhoof Behemoth. You can do fun stuff with counter doublers like Vorel of the Hull Clade and Pir, Imaginative Rascal to supercharge this.

#22. Prime Speaker Zegana

Prime Speaker Zegana is an oldie that still works pretty well; power creep means creatures are larger for a lower cost, so it’s easier to get a dramatic number on Prime Speaker Zegana. To make this commander shine, you just need big creatures, maybe some counter doublers, and flicker effects to retrigger it.

#21. Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath

While Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath has dominated many competitive, 1v1 formats, it’s not nearly the same beast in Commander. But it’s still respectable; you have fetch lands and self-mill to escape it regularly, and it still has valuable abilities. A super cheap, high-power creature also works with power-matters cards like Entish Restoration and Garruk's Uprising, plus instant speed fight effects… there are many ways to bend this to your benefit.

#20. Jackal, Genius Geneticist

Jackal, Genius Geneticist is for the players who love complicated deckbuilding as you work to sculpt a curve that works with Jackal’s unique cast trigger. Part of the card’s issue is that Volo, Guide to Monsters does mostly the same thing at a lower complexity level, part of it is the whole Marvel’s Spider-Man thing. Overall though, cool card—especially since you can circumvent the legend rule.

#19. Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood

The goal with Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood is to stack counters onto your lands, typically with flood counter from cards like Eluge, the Shoreless Sea and The Flood of Mars, to do a Seedborn Muse impression. There are also mana dorks like Gyre Sage and Kami of Whispered Hopes that scale with counters. This is really a ramp deck, but with a more interesting angle than landfall.

#18. Círdan the Shipwright

Círdan the Shipwright has a fantastic enters/attack trigger that makes the average game of Commander even more political. You can’t go wrong with card draw or cheating permanents into play. Make sure you have a few chonky permanents to plop down like Portal to Phyrexia, but expect to get cards more often than not as your opponents fear your threats. Of course, you can always strike a deal….

#17. Tawnos, the Toymaker

Tawnos, the Toymaker is the inverse of Volo, Guide to Monsters because it asks you to specialize in a creature type rather than going for a diverse suite. This copies amazing cards like Thragtusk, Craterhoof Behemoth, and Curiosity Crafter. Even better, the tokens are artifacts, so you can utilize cards like Simulacrum Synthesizer (the token copies retain their mana cost!) for further synergy.

#16. Slogurk, the Overslime

Slogurk, the Overslime is a weird card with weird art and weird abilities. The big draw to it are the infinite combos you can achieve with cards like Six + Lotus Petal or Mind Over Matter. You can also play it fairly and set up great value chains with fetch lands, landfall triggers, and extra land drops from cards like Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Exploration.

#15. Jyoti, Moag Ancient

Jyoti, Moag Ancient has a cool text box. After you've cast this once or twice, you can start to flicker it to get an overwhelming army of tokens, which are lands, so you get incredible landfall triggers and mana. If you want to play Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait but find it too strong for your pod, this commander could be a good choice to power down the deck.

#14. Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir

Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir was earthbending lands before it was cool, and Avatar: The Last Airbender actually gave this deck some new toys since it cares about attacking with animated lands. A limited Coastal Piracy in the command zone gives good card draw and also cute synergies: If all your creatures are lands, you can use nonland bounce effects like Consuming Tide and Flood of Tears to wreck your opponents’ board while leaving yours mostly untouched. This is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild’s best friend.

#13. The Pride of Hull Clade

The Pride of Hull Clade got quite a bit of press on release thanks to its absurd toughness and cost. Of course, it’s much easier to cast than the numbers suggest, and the card draw is pretty strong. The big thing holding this back is how good commanders like Arcades, the Strategist and Felothar the Steadfast are for defenders. While those are more popular and a bit stronger, the important cards for the archetype are green, so this works just fine.

#12. Alaundo the Seer

Alaundo the Seer’s dense textbox can be simplified as letting you draw a card then suspend a spell. It’s a pretty loaded ability, especially since every activation makes you get your next spell faster. This commander loves untap effects like Seedborn Muse and Aphetto Alchemist for multiple activations. Remember that you cast the card, so you can benefit from the cast trigger on Eldrazi and similar cards.

#11. Vannifar, Evolved Enigma

Vannifar, Evolved Enigma wants to be a cheaty commander that takes advantage of Magic’s rules. See, when you flicker a face-down permanent, it returns to play as the front face, assuming the face-down card was a permanent. So you can cloak a Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, then get it face up for the low, low cost of an Essence Flux. Alternatively, you could focus on colorless creatures, but flickering is how you make this good.

#10. Edric, Spymaster of Trest

Edric, Spymaster of Trest is one of a few cards I was surprised qualified for the list. The trick is to load your deck with unblockable creatures like Slither Blade and Invisible Stalker and pepper your opponents with combat damage until you draw into a couple of extra turn spells, which you chain until you find a Beastmaster Ascension-type pump. At that point, you can easily sweep your opponents away.

#9. Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

I have a soft spot for Rashmi, Eternities Crafter as a commander I build often. Its restrictions make it a little outdated, but the baseline of drawing cards when you cast a spell each turn isn’t bad, and sometimes you get free spells. You can establish that more often with cards like Brainstorm and Sensei's Divining Top. Focus on playing instants and cards with flash to get the most from Rashmi.

#8. Berta, Wise Extrapolator

Berta, Wise Extrapolator has incredible potential as a value engine. You can go infinite with Intruder Alarm or take a more storm-centric angle. When you proliferate, you can add a mana as long as Berta has a counter, so proliferate engines like Evolution Sage and Flux Channeler result in convoluted, explosive turns with the right set up.

#7. Kianne, Corrupted Memory

Simic cards (or I guess Quandrix cards) on Arcavios mess around with math, and Kianne, Corrupted Memory is one of the cooler examples because it’s not just “number goes up”. You’re rewarded for playing with the numbers and manipulating the number of counters on Kianne with proliferate effects or cards like Goldberry, River-Daughter that remove counters. Flash is an underrated keyword, so get in on it!

#6. Lonis, Genetics Expert

I appreciate that Lonis, Genetics Expert meaningfully distinguishes itself from its predecessor, Lonis, Cryptozoologist despite both caring about clues. While the former is a good midrange commander, this Lonis is all about that combo life. There are about a dozen ways to make this a combo engine with Krark-Clan Ironworks, among other cards. Don’t expect to see this played fairly, though it’s not so overwhelming strong that it can’t be played in Bracket 3.

#5. Momir Vig, Simic Visionary

Momir Vig, Simic Visionary is a great toolbox commander because it’s a tutor that sometimes draws cards. You find a green creature for anything, from graveyard hate (Keen-Eyed Curator) to card draw (Garruk's Packleader) and beyond. You can find whatever you need, and plenty of cards like Elven Chorus let you play them off the top.

#4. Prime Speaker Vannifar

I’m really surprised to see Prime Speaker Vannifar here; I’d have thought Birthing Pod on a stick would be more popular, especially since putting it on a creature lets you use cards like Bounding Krasis and Corridor Monitor to rip up the chain at blistering speed; though, perhaps it’s the deck’s linearity that keeps it down.

#3. Inga and Esika

Inga and Esika has a fundamentally Simic feel: It demands a high creature count, which it rewards with mana and card draw. You can take very explosive turns with it, especially since it extends the mana ability to tokens. Toss in haste enablers like Concordant Crossroads or Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, and you’ll have a wonderful time tearing through your deck.

#2. Primo, the Unbounded

Primo, the Unbounded is hands-down my favorite take on a hydra commander. It’s a unique payoff that works with what makes the creature type unique—its stats—rather than just making mana or using more basic typal effects. It’s a shame that Zimone, Infinite Analyst overshadowed it.

#1. Pir, Imaginative Rascal + Toothy, Imaginary Friend

Pir, Imaginative Rascal is renowned as one of the better counter doublers due to its low cost and doubling more than +1/+1 counters, so I’m relatively surprised it doesn’t see more play as a commander, especially considering how nasty Toothy, Imaginary Friend is.

Flickering Toothy puts you up so many cards since it's a simple leaves-the-battlefield trigger, not a death trigger. Pair that card advantage with green’s natural ramp, and I don’t understand why more players don’t seek out this partner pair.

Commanding Conclusion

Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir | Illustration by Lorenzo Mastroianni

From counters to hydras and beyond, the underrated Simic commanders still do all the things you’d expect a Simic deck to do. They even have unique abilities you can’t find on more popular commanders, like caring about odds and evens. Their lack of popularity doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build them!

Which underrated Simic commander would you build? Do you have any underrated commanders yourself? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord! If you want more Draftsim, check out our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!