The 16 Best Faerie Commanders in Magic Ranked

Alela, Artful Provocateur | art by Grzegorz Rutkowski

It’s always Halloween in my house. If my roommate had their way, we’d live in our own private fae realm, complete with mushroom furniture, decorative ivies, and lots and lots of faerie lights.

Magic’s faerie commanders can be just as dangerous as they are pretty. But which of them should you build your next deck around, and what else can you use to take advantage of a fae-heavy strategy?

I’ve dusted off my faerie wings (been a minute since the last Ren Fair), so come fly with me on this faerie recruitment mission!

What Are Faerie Commanders in MTG?

Rankle and Torbran | Illustration by Viko Menezes

For our purposes, faerie commanders are legendary creatures with the faerie creature subtype. Faeries in Magic tend to be tricksters, so much that many of them are Dimir. And no, it’s not just because of the Fae Dominion precon from Wilds of Eldraine Commander.

Honorable Mentions

Elminster

If you know Elminster, you know that this planeswalker commander is designed as a scry commander, not a faerie commander. The -2 ability does create Faerie Dragons, though, so I’m paying lip service and moving right along.

Feywild Visitor

Feywild Visitor lets pretty much any commander with the “choose a background“ ability become a faerie commander. I mean, if you don’t mind having this in the 99 rather than the command zone, any U+ commander can be a faerie commander. Not that they all should.

#16. Old Flitterfang

I’d much rather have this rat in my Greta, Sweettooth Scourge and Karumonix, the Rat King decks. Old Flitterfang gives you Food on each end step if a creature died that turn, including your opponents’ turns and creatures, and it has a built-in sac outlet. Definitely feels more like a complementary piece than a build-around.

#15. Kellan, Daring Traveler

I’m just not sure I see it yet. Kellan, Daring Traveler’s adventure can give you Map tokens, which Selesnya should be able to add to. Selesnya can also add to the +1/+1 counter you sometimes distribute when your creature explores. Then, Kellan’s attack trigger can bring the top card of your library to your hand… if it’s a small creature. You’ll have more information based on the exploring and any scrying you do, but I think I hear a blue hedgehog tapping its foot impatiently somewhere.

#14. Wydwen, the Biting Gale

Evasive lil thing, but Wydwen, the Biting Gale wants to return to your hand. It doesn’t really do much for you apart from that. With a name like “Biting Gale,” I kind of wish this had an ability to look at and discard from your opponents’ hands. Alas, no.

#13. Vendilion Clique

As a commander, Vendilion Clique is the kind that needs ways to enter the battlefield more than once to make a stronger impact. That means this mono-blue faerie is probably more likely to be a blink build, but you don’t have access to white to help that strategy work at peak efficiency.

#12. Rankle and Torbran

Problem: no blue (da-ba-dee). Rankle and Torbran only gives you benefits if you manage to deal combat damage to a player or battle, and its modes are fairly symmetrical. Points for the flavor of this dwarf and faerie teaming up, but I’d rather have something else at the front of my deck.

#11. Obyra, Dreaming Duelist

Obyra, Dreaming Duelist is right at home with many of the stronger faerie commanders. Between flash and a faerie-fall trigger that drains your opponents’ life, there’s a lot that this warrior can do for you. You certainly can build around this uncommon faerie, but I’d probably slot this in as support elsewhere. I wonder what a Pauper Commander deck built around Obyra would look like, since there’s been a fair number of common faeries in black and blue over the years.

#10. Rubinia Soulsinger

You know what? This Legends legend may actually be viable. Not competitively, but I can see myself building a deck around Rubinia Soulsinger if I pull one in a dollar pack at my LGS. Clones and creature theft abilities like Willbreaker and Agent of Treachery can help to support Rubinia’s creature theft theme, while Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief can be both another faerie and another way to take advantage of your opponents’ cards.

#9. Rankle, Master of Pranks

Rankle, Master of Pranks has a modal combat damage trigger that affects everyone, yourself included. I’ve always wanted a home for my Waste Not, and this seems to be the place. You are stuck playing mono-black, which means you probably aren’t going to run a bunch of faeries unless you’re really dedicated.

#8. Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor

Oh, lordy lordy. Wait, no, that’s Talion. But it’s also Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor. If you’re building around this commander, faeries are all you care about. Tegwyll doesn’t give you more faeries, though, which means you need other pieces to make this pop. Or… just slot Tegwyll into your other faerie decks.

#7. Kellan, the Fae-Blooded

My first instinct when looking at Kellan, the Fae-Blooded as its own commander is to go wide with tokens and tall with Kellan itself. Pack in a few artifact tutors and ways to skip on equip costs, and bam! Boros deck, built. Kellan’s adventure also works as a tutor, which fits this deck, but it also really makes me want this Kellan for my other Boros equipment builds.

#6. Talion, the Kindly Lord

Step right up, step right up. What’s your lucky number?

Talion, the Kindly Lord seems like all kinds of fun to me, especially because you could play with the same deck against the same decks and still have a totally different game. It’s all in the numbers! Plus, as an ETB effect, you can choose different numbers at different points of the game, so you’re not locked in to only getting perks from your first pick.

#5. Oona, Queen of the Fae

I love a commander with a built-in mana sink, and Oona, Queen of the Fae can make you a bunch of Faerie tokens with this ability. Mono-colored decks are the best targets for it, but it can be fun to gamble on the dual and tri-colored decks. And hey, maybe you’ll take inspiration from the ability to try to build a mill deck.

#4. Nymris, Oona’s Trickster

Nymris, Oona's Trickster wants to get very acquainted with your favorite flash enablers. Its first ability is a first-spell matters trigger, but it only counts on your opponents’ turns. Between this and Wavebreak Hippocamp, playing spells on your opponents’ turns has never been so lucrative.

#3. Alela, Cunning Conqueror

We got a second Alela card in Wilds of Eldraine Commander, and this one drops the white pip. Alela, Cunning Conqueror can still give you tokens, though these are black Faerie Rogues rather than Alela, Artful Provocateur’s blue Faeries.

This Alela can both be solid in the command zone and as a secondary piece in your other faerie builds. The token generation cares about casting your first spell each turn, while having your faeries deal combat damage to a player lets you goad one of that player’s creatures. Such mischief!

#2. Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief

This lil rogue has certainly stolen my heart. Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief is all kinds of fun and should allow for neat interactions depending on which decks are at your table. Your friend who’s playing a Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice deck is probably going to burn some of its removal on you just to get rid of all the tokens you’ve copied from them just trying to do their thing.

You can obviously fill your own deck with enchantments or with cantrippy combat tricks to get a bigger advantage. But you know what else? Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief can also work as a mutate commander.

#1. Alela, Artful Provocateur

Alela, Artful Provocateur has been a very popular commander since appearing in Throne of Eldraine. This Esper commander is a lord for your other fliers, and it also pumps out Faerie tokens whenever you cast artifacts or enchantments.

Alela is a flexible commander. You absolutely could lean into a faerie typal build or a flying matters build, but you can also focus more heavily on artifacts and enchantments. Alela also has deathtouch and lifelink, so there’s potential for some Voltron strategies here, too.

Best Faerie Commander Payoffs

If your faerie tribal typal commander is at least partially black, you’ll probably want to run Bitterblossom, the faerie tribal kindred enchantment. Faerie Trickery is an instant-speed counterspell, and Notorious Throng can create a bunch of tokens. Its prowl cost gives you an extra turn spell, and these three can all be brought to the top of your deck with Faerie Harbinger (as expensive as the Harbinger is).

Many faeries are also fliers, so flying matters themes can apply here, as Alela, Artful Provocateur shows off. It may be slow at 6 mana, but Archetype of Imagination can effectively make your fliers unblockable (reach aside).

Archmage of Echoes can copy any faerie (or wizard) that enters the battlefield. You’ll have to sacrifice legendary copies unless you have ways to get around the legend rule, but Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor can still give you cards when those copies die.

Faerie Bladecrafter grows as your faeries deal combat damage to other players, and it can be a huge life play when it dies. Nettling Nuisance can give your opponent goaded Pirates when your fairies deal combat damage.

Ego Drain loses its downside when you control a fairy, while Nectar Faerie can give one of your faeries lifelink for a turn. If you’re looking for a faerie-friendly land, Secluded Glen enters untapped if you have a one in your hand to reveal.

Spell Stutter is another counterspell that becomes more effective as you grow your fae realm. Stolen by the Fae is an X spell and a bounce spell that also gives you a bunch of Faeries.

Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor is of course a faerie lord, but Tegwyll's Scouring can be a flash-speed board wipe if you tap three fliers, not just faeries. Oh, and it gives you some Faeries back to boot.

These are just some of the cards that fit well with faeries, and I could have gone further into the flying-matters theme specifically. Needless to say, there’s lots of ways to take advantage of having a deck full of faeries.

Tale’s End

Obyra, Dreaming Duelist | Illustration by Evyn Fong

And that’s that! Faerie commanders are pretty evenly split into three categories: “Nah,” “Maybe,” and “Heck Yes!”, although some of the Nah and Maybe commanders can be solid support creatures in your other faerie decks. They’re all pretty, and pretty dangerous, and if you’re a Dimir Commander player who hasn’t dabbled in faeries… why the heck not?

Did your favorite faerie land in a fair place? Are there other strategies you use these commanders for that I’ve left off? Let me know in the comments below or dip on over to Discord.

Until next time, remember… don’t pick the flowers in the Feywild.