The 35 Best Selesnya Commanders Ranked

Last updated on February 22, 2024

Arahbo, Roar of the World | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

In Magic, green is the color of instinct and savagery. White is the color of righteous strength through unity. Together, these allied colors share a focus on community and living in harmony with the natural world and each other. Selesnya aligned creatures take the best parts of green and white and slap them together, usually themed around creating an army of creatures or benefiting the player who already controls one.

Selesnya legends have had a bit of a renaissance lately, with dozens of such creatures printed in the last few years. Some have shaken up the world of EDH, changing the landscape of power levels across the board.

Which new Selesnya commanders will top the list? Let’s find out!

Why Go with a Selesnya Commander?

Rhys the Redeemed | Illustration by Steve Prescott

Selesnya commanders are known for their creature- and lifegain-focused decks. Many of their commanders care about a particular creature type, like humans, elves, angels, or cats. Green and white have access to some of the best +1/+1 counter synergies in the game, plus the best token-generators and doublers. If any of these themes appeal to you, it might be time to declare for the Conclave!

#35. Lord Magnus

Finally, something to deal with the plainswalk and forestwalk creatures that are destroying the meta. Lord Magnus is a 6-mana 4/3 with first strike that turns off plains- and forestwalk abilities. It’s one of the very first Selesnya color legendary creatures, and it shows. It really only makes a cute thematic commander for your druids deck, but, hey, I’d love to see that!

#34. Trelasarra, Moon Dancer

Trelasarra, Moon Dancer is cheap and starts generating value early in any self-respecting lifegain deck. It’s got potential to get big, but without built-in protection or a way to draw into your Swiftfoot Boots, you’ll be hard pressed to keep it around for long. Trelasarra is best in formats where you can run a playset, in my opinion, and only half-decent in Commander.

#33. Leinore, Autumn Sovereign

Leinore, Autumn Sovereign is the face commander from one of Midnight Hunt’s commander precons, and it features that set’s coven mechanic. It gets you started early by virtue of being a 0-power creature, and it’ll put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control regardless of if you have three differently-powered creatures. You can consistently trigger the card draw part of its ability, so Leinore is nothing if not a great mini-game for you to play with yourself each turn.

#32. Jasmine Boreal of the Seven

Dominaria United’s commander precons slipped a ton of weirdly specific commanders in EDH, some reminiscent of their original versions all the way back in Legends. Jasmine Boreal of the Seven is the perfect commander for that Muraganda Petroglyphs deck you’ve been dreaming of forever. While it’s not the most competitive creature-based Selesnya commander, it does fill a unique role by providing a home for Enormous Baloth and Watchwolf you may have lying around.

#31. Kyler, Sigardian Emissary

Kyler, Sigardian Emissary is a straightforward commander for any human-themed deck. It makes itself stronger at the same rate it’ll buff the rest of your humans, and it does that by creating a ton of human creatures. Really, any combination of white-green human creatures/tokens work alongside Kyler. It doesn’t require much thought, but it gets the job done.

#30. Ohabi Caleria

WotC snuck the best Archer commander into the game last year, hidden in Dominaria United’s commander precons. Ohabi Caleria finally gives you the chance to play an entirely archer creatures deck in their relevant colors. The only thing Ohabi Caleria lacks is its own targeted damage effect typical of the archer creature type, but that’s not much of a downside when you consider it gives access to consistent card draw in colors that traditionally struggle with it. Ohabi really only works well in an archers-only deck, but it does take that creature type into the “playable in EDH” zone.

#29. Queen Allenal of Ruadach

Queen Allenal of Ruadach has an ability typical of green and white creatures, reminiscent of Wayfaring Temple and Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. Queen Allenal’s mana value might be a bit harder to cast than your average bear, but it's guaranteed to get big before long. Unfortunately, there are just better and quicker ways to make 100,000,000 tokens besides getting an additional 1/1 soldier each time, and I don’t personally like swinging in with a commander whose power and toughness are so… volatile.

#28. Danitha, New Benalia’s Light

Both March of the Machine and Aftermath dumped new legends into Magic at an alarming rate, and you may have missed Danitha, New Benalia's Light under the crush of Praetors, team-ups, and de-sparked planeswalkers. Danitha’s cards have always had a theme of equipment and auras, and this latest version lets you cast one of either from your graveyard once per turn. Importantly, Danitha already comes with vigilance, lifelink, and trample, so you can save that Sigiled Sword of Valeron and Basilisk Collar for another creature like your Thran Power Suit.

#27. Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn

Marrying two of Selesnya’s favorite mechanics, Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn mixes lifegain with +1/+1 counters to great effect. Soul Warden and its sisters make easy repeatable lifegain triggers in a multiplayer game, and you can squeeze extra value out of that lifegain with Well of Lost Dreams and Angel of Vitality.

#26. Selvala, Explorer Returned

Green and white have a handful of group hug style commanders, and Selvala, Explorer Returned is one of the early forays into this design space. Typically, letting your opponents draw cards is the worst strategy imaginable, but Selvala implies you’ll be parleying these extra cards into favors at the table. In a full pod, you’ll gain 3 life and add 3 green mana for each activation, which you can blow up quickly with untapper effects like Magewright's Stone.

This is pretty standard play with Selvala, but what I really like is the weird way it interacts with Panglacial Wurm. Since its ability doesn’t use the stack and is a mana ability, you can activate it while searching your library to cast Panglacial Wurm, effectively revealing the top card of your library while you’re searching your library? What happens if you don’t have enough mana after you tap Selvala? Do you get to draw that card you revealed, or is shuffled away before you draw it? Who knows!

#25. Sigarda, Champion of Light

Sigarda makes multiple appearances on this list, and for good reason. It’s got a few printings, and most of them are playable. Sigarda, Champion of Light features Midnight Hunt’s coven mechanic, checking to see if you have three creatures with different powers whenever you attack to dig through the top of your library for a human card. This Sigarda’s coven stipulation isn’t hard to play around, but it does put another layer between you and the value you want from your commander, whereas the other Sigardas start benefiting you immediately.

#24. Samwise Gamgee

Frodo’s loyal gardener Sam got three different printings in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, and the surnamed Samwise Gamgee makes the best commander of the lot. It has an easy-to-trigger ability with an easy-to-activate recursion effect. Put Samwise at the helm of any deck with a ton of sacrificial historic permanents like Boromir, Warden of the Tower, and keep that value engine pumping along.

#23. Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant

Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant is the Universe Within version of Street Fighter’s Dhalsim, Pliable Pacifist. Tadeas does a great job at emulating what it’s like to play Dhalsim in Street Fighter; staying noninteractive until it's ready to go on the offensive. Connecting with Tadeas (or another, typically low-powered reach creature) won’t be a huge threat, but it allows you to control the pace of the game by drawing cards and defending yourself on your own terms.

#22. Vrestin, Menoptra Leader

When you think of a lot of insects, Scute Swarm and Hornet Queen might come to mind. They're incredible in the 99 of Vrestin, Menoptra Leader decks. This insect lord, and yes I'd say lord because each attack is a permanent mass pump for your bugs had an ability that is primarily win-more (meaning you already need to be ahead). The creation of multiple insects when it ETBs is really helpful for stabilizing though.

#21. Treebeard, Gracious Host

Treebeard, Gracious Host comes from Magic’s recent venture into the Lord of the Rings IP, and, as the OG Ent in fantasy literature, it makes an excellent commander for a treefolk themed deck. Treebeard has a defensive theme; with 0 power and a lifegain-triggering ability, Treebeard isn’t looking to do combat without support from an Assault Formation, but it has the potential to grow quickly by targeting itself whenever you gain life. Passive triggered lifegain effects are the best way to go about this (like Authority of the Consuls), with instant speed lifegain spells like Congregate and Heroes' Reunion in place of typical combat tricks.

#20. Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith

Hammer of Nazahn is one of the best equipment commanders in EDH. As such, Nazahn, Revered Blacksmith fetches it from your deck as soon as it hits the battlefield. You can easily abuse Nazahn’s tutor ability by blinking it with Conjurer's Closet and other Cloudshift Effects. While Nazahn itself isn’t the best target for your equipment, since it’ll be bouncing from the field over and over, there’s no shortage of creatures in green and white to pick up the Hammer of Nazahn and go to town.

#19. Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice

Trostani, Selesnya's Voice is one the best versions of Trostani and no list of Selesnya commanders would be complete without it. It’s great because each of its abilities are relevant on multiple turns after it’s been cast. Trostani, Selesnya's Voice splits the difference between a lifegain deck and a populate deck, making it synergize very well with itself. You can easily create a single big token to populate over and over or make permanent copies of those Mimic Vat tokens.

#18. Maja, Bretagard Protector

Maja, Bretagard Protector is an anthem on a 2/3 body with a non-keyworded landfall ability. Landfall decks are infamous for their easily abusable effects, and Maja is no exception. Many Maja decks are green-heavy on account of its access to Rampant Growths and Harrows and the like, but the white landfall spells like Felidar Retreat and Emeria Angel pair well in this deck.

#17. Yenna, Redtooth Regent

The ability on Yenna, Redtooth Regent is decent until you get to the word “untap” then you're looking for ways to break it. But even if you don't do unfair stuff, being able to make a second copy of any of your enchantments for is so good.

Blighted Burgeoning, Sage's Reverie, Raised by Wolves become way stronger, and O-ring effects like Chains of Custody can have dramatic impact on the board.

#16. Emmara Tandris

Emmara Tandris is the best protection a creature tokens deck could ask for. Emmara gives you free reign to attack and block with wild abandon with tokens of all sizes, from the lowly Saproling to the mighty Armada WurmWurm. Its damage prevention means those creatures survive combat with deathtouchers and eat up damage from a high-power trampler. Really, Emmara’s only downside is its seven mana value. Sure, it comes with a 5/7 body, but that’s not really the focal point for a deck that only wants to do combat with its tokens.

#15. Gluntch, the Bestower

Gluntch, the Bestower is a cute legendary jellyfish and perhaps the ultimate group hug commander. With enough gifts for the entire pod, Gluntch is the best way to make friends at a table. And, of course, there are easy ways for you to benefit from those gifts as well. Besides the social incentives in a multiplayer game, cards like Nils, Discipline Enforcer keep you safe from those buffed up creatures, while Forgotten Ancient benefits from all that extra card advantage you’ve granted your opponents. Plus, you can always choose yourself as one of the players from Gluntch’s ability, giving you access to just the right boost when you need it.

#14. Trostani, Three Whispers

These three are downright dangerous. The activated abilities don't get to surprise people like instants would, but being able to offer the activations to an ally, or during combat as a trick is really cool. Vigilance is so good in multiplayer games since you are no longer forced to choose between one attack or being available to block three opponents. Trostani, Three Whispers turns goaded creatures or any opposing combat into removal, and if people forget about double strike, it often means they're dead.

#13. Sovereign Okinec Ahau

The built-in ward on Sovereign Okinec Ahau is great, and while the triggered ability works for the individuals around it, a few cards become huge killers really quickly like Forgotten Ancient, Kalonian Hydra and Clamavus. The power on base 0 cards like Phantom Nishoba and Stonecoil Serpent becomes amazing and the Unnatural Growth becomes permanent growth.

#12. Ellivere of the Wild Court

Ellivere of the Wild Court does an incredible job of bringing in critters with Curiosity and overall card advantage. An excellent fit for any enchantress decks looking to have lots of enchantments enter the battlefield.

Before you overwhelm opponents, in the best Oprah/Ellivere voice possible, say, “You get a Helm of the Gods, and you get a Helm of the Gods, and everybody gets a Helm of the Gods!”

#11. Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist

If you’re looking for the ultimate Selesnya Voltron commander, Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist is for you. Challenge your opponents to single combat Silent Arbiter-style with the knowledge that your souped up Mirri wreaks havoc on anything they try to block with. Pump Mirri up with any of green and white’s best auras and you’re in business! Mirri works great at the head of a cat creatures deck, too, since many of those creatures have abilities relevant to equipment, which they can slap onto Mirri to buff it up even further.

#10. Ghalta and Mavren

March of the Machine combined several legendary creatures from across the multiverse into single cards, and Ghalta and Mavren stomped into formats representing two of everyone’s favorite characters from Ixalan. Ghalta and Mavren is a huge 12/12 trampler for seven mana with one of the most Selesnya abilities ever. Ghalta and Mavren gives you either another huge attacking dinosaur or doubles your board by creating dozens of 1/1 lifelink Vampires. Combine this vampire-dino duo with any of the classic populate cards or any other big Timmy creature and watch your foes scatter before your might.

#9. Sigarda, Font of Blessings

This incarnation of the angel Sigarda shows her resplendent in the aftermath of the Phyrexian invasion of Innistrad, still wielding that sick-as-hell heron-scythe thing. This Sigarda, Font of Blessings protects all your other permanents with hexproof and lets you cast angels and humans from the top of your library.

I love a legend with a focus on two creature types because it gives me the opportunity to find the synergies between two card types that typically don’t care about each other. Sigarda decks favor anything from “generally good” human creatures like Champion of Lambholt to more specific lord effects, like the kind you’ll find on Giada, Font of Hope and Katilda, Dawnhart Prime.

#8. Emiel the Blessed

Emiel the Blessed hit the scene with the release of the original Jumpstart packs. As one of two legendary unicorns, Emiel is the de-facto leader of any unicorn themed deck. Emiel can Cloudshift any creature you control, with the added bonus of letting you pay one green/white to give that creature a +1/+1 counter on the way back, or two if it's a unicorn. Cards like Good-Fortune Unicorn and Brightmare make great targets for Emiel, but most of the rest of the 28 unicorn creatures in Magic only benefit from those counters. In a similar vein to Baru, Wurmspeaker, Emiel the Blessed takes an (on average) underpowered creature type and “punches it up” just the right amount to make it playable in EDH.

#7. Shalai, Voice of Plenty

Dominaria’s Shalai, Voice of Plenty usually shows up in the 99 of Abzan-aligned +1/+1 counter decks, but I think it deserves a command zone of its own. 99 times out 100, It’s easier to cast than a Leyline of Sanctity, and it comes with a 3/4 flying body and an excellent outlet for your extra mana. Spreading hexproof around to your creatures and planeswalkers makes most targeted removal against you impossible, letting you set up for a punishing stax strategy or protect your key combo pieces before generating infinite mana and dumping it all into Shalai’s activated ability.

#6. Captain Sisay

Captain Sisay can sometimes play second-fiddle to the 5-color Sisay, Weatherlight Captain as far as legendary creature themed decks go. Losing access to the other three colors can seem like a needless kneecapping, and that’s because it is. Captain Sisay is more expensive to cast, has to tap to activate its ability, and can’t increase its power innately like the Modern Horizons Sisay can. There’s no reason you can’t include the slightly slower Selesnya Sisay (try saying that three times fast) in your Sisay, Weatherlight Captain deck, though. Two tutors are always better than one!

#5. Karametra, God of Harvests

Karametra, God of Harvests is one of the best Selesnya commanders, by simple virtue of being an indestructible 6/7 with only upsides. Karametra decks can come out swinging, usually playing their commander before turn 5, and then ramping at an inordinate pace to play a board full of creatures. They’ve got no problem keeping sufficient devotion on the field, and I’ve seen Karametra decks routinely dig every last land out of their deck and onto the battlefield. Combined with some simple landfall effects like Rampaging Baloths and Karametra can easily overwhelm your opponents if it goes unanswered for more than a turn.

#4. Gaddock Teeg

Gaddock Teeg is my arch-nemesis. There were many a time in high school when a friend’s Selesnya stax deck would absolutely lock down a table by preventing anyone from casting any spells. Slap some obnoxious hatebears like Aven Mindcensor, Collector Ouphe, or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in there alongside a Winter Orb and you’ve created something truly offensive. If you’ve ever felt like your EDH games are over too quickly, I’d advise you try a Gaddock Teeg deck just to keep everyone at the table for hours.

#3. Arahbo, Roar of the World

Commander 2017 is widely reviled for the introduction of the eminence mechanic, which lets commanders like Arahbo, Roar of the World affect the battlefield from the command zone. Arahbo’s eminence ability isn’t the most powerful of the lot, but it’s still a free Giant Growth for any cat creature once per turn. Arahbo is the ideal commander for a cat “creature type matters” deck, since all the best cats are found in green and white. On top of all that, Arahbo passes the “bear test.” It’s a 5/5 for 5 mana, and there’s no reason its 2-color mana value would slow you down in a typical game of EDH.

#2. Sythis, Harvest’s Hand

What if I told you that you could just run Enchantress's Presence as your commander and have access to the two best enchantment-themed colors in the game? Sythis, Harvest's Hand is absolutely packed to the brim with value for a 2-mana creature. I mean, seriously, even if it doesn’t hit the field until turn three, that’s early enough in any Commander game to draw four or more cards off cheap aura enchantments like Ethereal Armor and All That Glitters. Those enchantments don’t even have to hit the field, since Sythis’s ability triggers on the cast! Sure, it’s extra-vulnerable with the enchantment card type stapled on, but that shouldn’t be a problem in a deck with access to Alpha Authority and Privileged Position.

#1. Rhys the Redeemed

Rhys the Redeemed is the best you can get when it comes to Selesnya Elf themed decks. Any commander you can play on turn one is a threat in and of itself, and Rhys has potential to get out of hand quick. Its own 3-mana Elf Warrior generating ability might seem a little steep, but what Rhys really wants to do is double all your tokens à la Parallel Lives. Six is also a little steeper than we’d want to pay for that, until you remember you’re running elves whose middle name is Green Ramp. Elves have no problem making big mana in Commander. Combine Rhys, the Redeemed with Thousand-Year Elixir and Magewright's Stone and you’ll be reproducing tokens like you’re running a rabbit deck.

Outside of measly 1/1 Elf Warriors, Rhys can double any of those huge tokens green and white have access to. Don’t forget about populating those Armada Wurm or Desolation Twin tokens, too!

Decklist: Ohabi Caleria in EDH

Ohabi Caleria | Illustration by Nestor Ossandon Leal

Once I saw Ohabi Caleria, I knew I had to brew up an archer themed deck. With all the generic creature-type support that’s been printed in recent years, it didn’t even matter much that most archer creatures are nigh-unplayable in EDH. This Ohabi deck hopes to unleash a hail of arrows each turn, tapping out our entire board to deal damage to attackers or to wipe the battlefield with a barrage of deathtouched shots. Cards like Throne of the God-Pharaoh round out our “tapped creatures matter” theme, and give you some extra damage even when your archers can only weakly ping your opponents.

Wrap Up

Sythis, Harvest's Hand | Illustration by Ryan Yee

Selesnya commanders are deceptively diverse in their form and function, with some clearly funneled into creature-type specific decks, while others can fit more broad strategies such as generic “tokens” or “lifegain” decks.

What’s your favorite Selesnya commander? Which green/white Legends legend would you like to see an updated version of? Let me know in the comments, or over on Draftsim’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading, and stay cool!