The 35 Best Avatar Commanders in Magic Ranked

Sauron, the Dark Lord | Illustration by Kieran Yanner

Every good magic system needs its avatars. Sometimes they’re agents of a more powerful force that can’t impact the world directly, like Tolkien’s Maiar on Middle-earth, but sometimes they themselves are that primordial force. However they work, they’re incarnations of the gods or magics of a particular world or plane, so naturally they’re often pretty powerful.

As for our own Magic, many avatars can be your commander, and the best are some of the most played throughout the entire format. Which of these commanders did you forget were avatars along with their other types? Read on, then let me know in the comments below!

What Are Avatar Commanders in MTG?

The Balrog, Durin's Bane | Illustration by Kekai Kotaki

Avatar commanders are any legendary creature with avatar in their type line on at least one of their sides. Avatars tend to be powerful beings, and they often represent some form of ultimate power in the universes they inhabit or serve as the physical representative of some unseen deity. Avatar commanders run the spectrum of color identities, and have no unifying mechanical identity.

Of note, I haven’t included Extus, Oriq Overlord / Awaken the Blood Avatar because it isn’t an avatar, though it creates avatar tokens. I also didn’t include the dual-faced saga-avatars from The Last Airbender because they aren’t eligible commanders.

Unranked: Fang, Fearless l’Cie + Vanille, Cheerful l’Cie

Fang, Fearless l'Cie and Vanille, Cheerful l'Cie meld into Ragnarok, Divine Deliverance, an avatar with a whole slew of keywords. Unfortunately, Fang and Vanille don’t have a partner with ability, so you can’t run them together without a Rule 0 conversation.

#35. Radagast the Brown

Radagast the Brown is cut from the same cloth as Volo, Guide to Monsters as  “anti-typal” commanders: They specifically want you to run creatures with different types. You obviously don’t have access to the same variety of cards when you compare mono-green to Simic (), nor access to blue’s counterspells. But if you want something that can be fun and different, this Radagast is a fine place to start.

#34. Absolute Virtue

If you’re paying 8 mana for a commander, you better hope it sticks. Between uncounterable and the specific form of protection that Absolute Virtue has, there’s very few ways to remove it before it starts to attack. I see two primary builds here: You can surround this avatar with similar pillow fort cards, or you can pile it high with equipment and auras to aim for the commander damage win condition.

#33. Avatar Roku, Firebender

While it doesn’t have the keyword firebending, Avatar Roku, Firebender gives you even more mana since it triggers when your opponents attack, too. The obvious thing is to buff up one of your attackers and give it double strike and evasive abilities, and you can weave some goad into the deck to make sure your opponents aren’t skipping their combat steps.

#32. Titania, Voice of Gaea + Argoth, Sanctum of Nature

Technically only Titania, Voice of Gaea is a commander, but it melds with Argoth, Sanctum of Nature into Titania, Gaea Incarnate. Dangit, I’m counting it. Crop Rotation is the perfect land tutor here to grab Argoth and set up the avatar Titania’s mass land reanimation.

#31. Gandalf the Grey

Modal triggers that make you cycle through their abilities are always a good time, though I have to admit that the fourth one on Gandalf the Grey is a bit… odd. Especially if you want to play it as your commander. It puts Gandalf on top of your library, which means you have to draw it and pay another 5 mana to keep the chain going. There are plenty more straightforward Izzet spellslingers to play.

#30. The Balrog, Durin’s Bane

The Balrog, Durin's Bane is the most viable out of the command zone among the three versions we have, and that’s largely because the cost reduction is so easy to turn on. Treasure tokens are the primary way to go, but Rakdos () has lots of sacrifice options, and you can use edicts to make your opponents join in.

#29. Sephiroth, Fallen Hero

I don’t like to pay commander tax, so I like it when a commander can reanimate itself. Sephiroth, Fallen Hero does it in a flavorful way with a sac outlet for modified creatures. Hey, you were going to Skullclamp that token anyway. The cell counters don’t do much except designate a creature as modified, but the rest of that attack trigger goes nicely with a well-developed board.

#28. Arahbo, the First Fang

As a cat lord and token generator, Arahbo, the First Fang could make for a decent beginner commander. If you’ve got a spare copy and a bunch of bulk, you could definitely put together a quick budget cat deck (I had a play group that gifted each other budget decks as a Secret Santa one year).

#27. Sephiroth, Planet’s Heir

The -1/-1 counter support from Lorwyn Eclipsed has given Sephiroth, Planet's Heir new toys. Its enters ability can sweep away a lot of small creatures and buff up your commander with +1/+1 counters. -1/-1 counters can shrink and eventually kill your opponents’ creatures, and they benefit from proliferation just like the counters Sephiroth gives itself.

#26. Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis

Avatars sometimes have weird abilities, whether it’s a self-reanimation method or a line of text that makes it harder to play them. You can only play Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis if you pay through its convoke and delve costs, and as a Golgari deck (), that naturally leads to self-mill. Give it haste, a +3/+3 buff, and double strike, and you’re threatening a win with commander damage.

#25. Gandalf the White

As a flash enabler and trigger doubler, Gandalf the White is certainly a good support card. In the command zone, mono-white just isn’t the best color identity to get legendary and artifact payoffs. There’re some historic payoffs, but even then you miss out on Boros () ones.

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

Between discard, self-mill, and surveil, there’s plenty of ways to fill your graveyard in Dimir () to transform Emet-Selch, Unsundered into Hades, Sorcerer of Eld. You can then play cards that were already in your graveyard, though anything that would enter it goes to exile instead. This commander benefits when you can put in the work before you cast it and transform it, but you’re always prone to graveyard hate along the way. A well-timed Farewell really hurts this deck.

#23. Phage the Untouchable

Phage the Untouchable may seem like an impossible commander to build around, but that’s only true if you lack imagination. Its enters ability will kill you if you don’t plan ahead, so you’ll need to either make use of Torpor Orb or other ways to stifle the ability, or Command Beacon and other abilities that put your commander into your hand.

#22. Aang, at the Crossroads / Aang, Destined Savior

You know what’s cool about the 4-mana cap on Aang, at the Crossroads’s ability? Four mana grabs all kinds of blink cards like Restoration Angel and Felidar Guardian, but also some good shapeshifters like Clever Impersonator and Spark Double. The point of the deck is to blink Aang over and over to pull almost if not all of your creatures out of your deck, then transform at the next upkeep. Things get even better if you have Haru, Hidden Talent out at the beginning of the loop.

#21. Rat King, Verminister

As if rats needed another viable commander, the activated ability here makes Rat King, Verminister the perfect commander for Rat Colony or Relentless Rats. Those are the obvious picks; the other creatures you can run in multiples in a mono-black Commander deck are Nazgûl and Shadowborn Apostles; it just feels like a flavor loss if you don’t run either of the rat options.

#20. Soul of Windgrace

With Soul of Windgrace, your activated abilities discard lands, and attack and enters triggers reanimates them. It’s a pretty straightforward strategy that keeps improving as we get better lands, land tutors, and extra land drop abilities. The land reanimation ability also lets you steal them from your opponents’ graveyards, so you can build a land destruction deck around this cat avatar if you want.

#19. Gandalf of the Secret Fire

Gandalf of the Secret Fire is a scene box card, but dang if it doesn’t bring the thunder and lightning. It’s got this weird spellslinger ability that has you suspend your instants and sorceries as they resolve. You cast them, then there’s a kind of echo later that’s just as potent. You have to cast spells from your hand during your opponent’s turn to get the trigger, though, so it’s not a total free-for-all.

#18. Sauron, Lord of the Rings

The face commander of the Hosts of Mordor precon is often usurped by Sauron, the Dark Lord at the front of that deck when players upgrade it, but you can still build around Sauron, Lord of the Rings if you want. There should be a little more reanimator in your build since you’ll mill five cards every time you cast your commander.

#17. 5-Color Niv-Mizzets

The 5-color Niv-Mizzets are close enough in power and theme to discuss them all at once. The oldest is Niv-Mizzet Reborn, a card that filters the top of your library for up to 10 2-color cards. Niv-Mizzet, Guildpact does something similar with its combat damage trigger, where this time it cares about the color pairs you’ve assembled on the battlefield. Niv-Mizzet, Supreme acts as the spellslinger variant by giving jump-start to the likes of Assassin's Trophy, Boros Charm, and Supreme Verdict. It’s not quite as good or as fun because you can’t mix and match your favorite 2-color legends, but you can play all your 2-color charms, I guess.

#16. Sin, Spira’s Punishment

It’s not often that a land-based deck wants token doublers, but Sin, Spira's Punishment’s enters and attack trigger gives you a reason to play them. Doubling the land tokens you make also means that you can double on your landfall triggers, and we all know where that can lead.

#15. Scion of the Ur-Dragon

Scion is a term that means descendant or heir, so it makes sense that the heir to The Ur-Dragon should also be a formidable 5-color commander. Scion of the Ur-Dragon has a repeatable dragon Entomb that also lets it copy the most recent dragon you’ve buried. But it isn’t The Ur-Dragon, so it can’t rank near it.

#14. Karona, False God

We often make fun of older commanders for being unplayable, but Karona, False God seems actually manageable. We’ve seen similar mono-red cards like Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos and Khârn the Betrayer, but Karona, False God is a 5-color chaos option. The attack trigger is a little odd; you’ll have Karona back during your turn, so you might choose to make it a typal deck, too.

#13. Saruman of Many Colors

I can’t read the words “Saruman of Many Colors” without hearing Fraser Kerr say those words in Ralph Bakshi’s animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. The card is a spell theft commander and a second spell payoff that gets better when you have flash enablers to give you more spells to cast during your opponents’ turns. Dang if that ability isn’t just a darn dissertation, though.

#12. Progenitus

How many commanders do you know with a mana cost that takes up more card space than their name? Progenitus demands that your mana base be perfect, though cards like Timeless Lotus, Jodah, Archmage Eternal, and Jegantha, the Wellspring help with that a lot. Progenitus is just one of those cards from a bygone era that’s still fun to see just for the vibes.

#11. Saruman, the White Hand

The question with Saruman, the White Hand is whether to go for cheap spells so that you amass an Orc Army token slowly and steadily, or big spells so that you make a huge one quickly. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, with some unblockable enablers to ensure your Orc Army hits your opponent.

#10. Child of Alara

Child of Alara is a sweeper on a stick, and a massive rattlesnake at that. Your opponents can only deal with it if they exile it. You can build your deck around indestructible creatures like gods, and use Child of Alara to sweep boards before you attack. Don’t build around too many mana rocks with this one.

#9. Arahbo, Roar of the World

Arahbo, Roar of the World’s eminence ability isn’t as busted as some others, though it has the potential to make one of your cats absolutely huge during combat. Definitely one of the best cat commanders we have.

#8. Avatar Aang / Aang, Master of Elements

Avatar Aang is a bit frustrating to me as a deckbuilder. Given how it needs you to airbend, earthbend, waterbend, and firebend in the same turn to transform it, there’s really only so many different ways you can build the deck. There’s the thematic Avatar: The Last Airbender decks, you can ignore the back side and focus on just one of the bending abilities, or you can try for the optimized build that tries to flip it back and forth constantly.

#7. Kuja, Genome Sorcerer / Trance Kuja, Fate Defied

Once you’ve transformed Kuja, Genome Sorcerer into Trance Kuja, Fate Defied, you get a wizard damage doubler, something that pairs nicely with a wizard trigger doubler like Harmonic Prodigy. It’s yet another take on the Rakdos burn space occupied by the likes of Judith, Carnage Connoisseur, though with a bit of typal synergy mixed in.

#6. Kefka, Court Mage / Kefka, Ruler of Ruin

Kefka, Court Mage is one of the Grixis commanders () that got cEDH attention in 2025. The avatar side, Kefka, Ruler of Ruin goes infinite with Psychosis Crawler and Niv-Mizzet, Parun, so it’s ridiculously easy to ping your opponents to death or grind into a Lab-Man or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries win.

#5. Gishath, Sun’s Avatar

One of the more popular dinosaur commanders, Gishath, Sun's Avatar eats a lot of mana but comes out swinging. The free dinosaurs can be really impactful with effects like Warstorm Surge and Impact Tremors that burn your opponents and their threats when your creatures enter.

#4. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER / Sephiroth, One-Winged Angel

If you ever wanted Blood Artist in the command zone, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER is your best bet. You’re in the primary color of death payoffs and sacrifice outlets, so you know exactly what kind of deck to build. The fun about playing Sephiroth from the command zone in its own sacrifice deck is that you can aim to get the emblem multiple times, which is harder to do when this avatar is in the 99 and you have to reanimate it.

#3. Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Muldrotha, the Gravetide is the poster child for reanimator commanders since it works whether you build a self-mill, discard, or sacrifice deck. The ability is really strong at what it does, and you can tune the deck to your preferred power lever, but it’s also flexible enough to enable niche decks. How about Muldrotha, the Gravetide with sagas, so that you constantly bring them back for more value? Or Muldrotha with planeswalkers, where the goal is to get them exactly to the point when you can activate their ultimate abilities. Or heck, even the War of the Spark uncommons that don’t have upticks.

#2. Sauron, the Dark Lord

The cost to get around Sauron, the Dark Lord’s ward trigger is brutal, especially when your commander is one of the only cards in your deck that can pay it. Each ability leads into the other, not quite in a full combo three-part, but in a straight line of value that leads to value and then more value. There’s lots of ways to take it because your commander is just that good. There’s the orc and zombie typal decks with amass cards, there’s Ring tempts you cards along with some reanimation and draw or discard payoffs… and I just remembered that Marvel’s Spider-Man added mayhem cards that want you to discard them. Sheesh.

#1. The Ur-Dragon

By far one of the most popular commanders of the last decade or so, The-Ur Dragon is the type of commander that you often won’t need to cast. Its cost reduction is active whether it’s on the battlefield or not thanks to eminence. You can build a deck around The Ur-Dragon at any budget level, though a good one is also a high-budget one between the 5-color mana base, the good, expensive dragons, and powerful cards like tutors and Game Changers that you might want to play.

Avatar Payoffs

Avatars don’t have any specific payoffs; as of Lorwyn Eclipsed, no card interacts with avatars specifically. If you’re going to build around multiple avatars somehow, you’ll want generic typal support like Herald's Horn and Cavern of Souls.

I guess you could consider Spider Manifestation somewhat of a typal synergy for avatars. It counts as an avatar on the field if that somehow matters, but it also untaps itself when you cast spells with a mana value of 4 or higher. Most avatars are expensive, so this should be a tidy little mana generator in those decks.

Bonus Decklist: Karona, False God Avatars in EDH

Karona, False God | Illustration by Matthew D. Wilson

Avatars don’t have a lot of synergy, aside from when their abilities happen to follow a similar path. This Karona, False God deck is a bit of an oddball: You’re running typal washing abilities like Maskwood Nexus so that your avatars can gain the keywords and buffs from the likes of Cosmic Spider-Man and the two Arahbos; Mirror Entity is neat because you can activate its ability for X=1 if you just care about giving your creatures all types. There’s also a lot of replacement effects like Jodah, Archmage Eternal that give your spells a alternate casting cost, just to give you flexibility because avatars can be demanding in terms of mana.

Apart from that, I wanted some reasons to run Overlords from Duskmourn and saga avatars from The Last Airbender. You’ll notice there’s a missing Overlord, and that’s because Overlord of the Balemurk only recurs non-avatar creatures.

All in all, this deck is a standard good stuff pile of cards that’s not particularly efficient but that does what it sets out to do: Play a bunch of avatars!

Commanding Conclusion

Absolute Virtue | Illustration by Toni Infante

Avatars are often beings of immense power, sometimes that bends the rules of what we think is possible in a given setting. Their cards often do similar things, like how Hogaak doesn’t let you use mana to cast it, or how Phage loses you the game if you don’t cast it from your hand. There’s also a recurring theme of two-sided avatars, where one form “awakens” into the other, or something. There may not be many reasons to run a bunch of avatars together, but there sure are some strong choices to run in the command zone.

Which avatars do you run? How would you build a typal deck around avatars? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay safe!