The 45 Best Bant Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on October 7, 2025

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician | Illustration by Nathaniel Himawan

You know, it seems like everyone has a favorite color pair in Magic. I know a guy with a Simic Combine tattoo; wonder which colors he likes to play. But I don’t really associate myself with any particular guild; I like them all and adjust to their different philosophies and play styles.

But 3-color combinations? Oh, I’m a Bant () baby all the way! It’s the colors of value, and the Limited player in me knows that’s where my heart truly lies.

Let’s explore this shard and everything it has to offer a value-oriented player such as myself!

What Are Bant Cards in MTG?

Galea, Kindler of Hope | Illustration by Johannes Voss

Bant cards are those with an exact color identity of green, white, and blue (). Those three colors can be represented in the mana cost of the card or might have colored pips in their rules text that add to their color identity. In other words, these cards can only go into a Commander deck with at least in its color identity.

The term “Bant” refers to one of the “Shards” of Alara, which are 3-color combinations consisting of a base color (white) and its two ally colors (blue and green). This color combination was also used for the Brokers family from Streets of New Capenna, but no one calls it “Brokers” unless they’re trying to start a fight.

We also have a comprehensive breakdown of all Bant lands in Magic, if you're working on your mana base.

#45. The Phelddagrifs

I have to mention Phelddagrif and Questing Phelddagrif as cards people enjoy but ones I find kind of annoying. I’m not big on meme decks, and the old “purple hippo” strat involved helping people out and settling for second place. Not my cup of hippo tea. These cards do have random synergistic homes, but I’ll leave them to the meme players.

#44. Jenara, Asura of War

What’s that? A Bant commander without an inherent form of ramp and card advantage? You laugh, until someone makes their Jenara, Asura of War gigantic and double strikes you out of the game. I only wish it had some inherent form of ramp or card advantage….

#43. Amareth, the Lustrous

It’s wild that Amareth, the Lustrous was released in the same Magic set that gave us Kodama of the East Tree. You’d think the 3-color dragon would be the better card, but it’s not even close. This Bant card’s still got some luster though; if you’re looking for card advantage in a 5-color dragon deck, you could do worse than a 6/6 flier that draws extra cards.

#42. Estrid, the Masked

Seems like planeswalker commanders have fallen out of favor. Cool gimmick, but it’s so easy to remove a planeswalker these days. Estrid, the Masked is a sweet Bant enchantment commander with strong ramp potential. But anyone who’s trying to optimize towards the more efficient Commander metas of 2024 is probably asking: “Why not just play Sythis, Harvest's Hand instead?”

#41. Soul of Emancipation

I’m not really a Terastodon believer anymore, but if you’re still a Nasty Terasty truther, might I interest you in Soul of Emancipation? It’s the less mean, Bantified version that can’t blow up lands, but makes 3/3 flying Angels instead of Elephant tokens. That makes it a pretty nice incentive for targeting your own stuff, though it’s still solid at removing things your opponents control.

#40. Galea, Kindler of Hope

Galea, Kindler of Hope gets a shout as a rock-solid aura commander or equipment commander, but it slots in low for being so specific. It’s a legendary creature you build decks around, not one you typically slot into the 99 of other decks, which makes it an effective Bant commander, but a narrow Bant card.

#39. Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor

We’re definitely in niche build-around commander territory, with Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor being a highly specific graveyard/artifact commander. It’s a cool one though, and you’d be surprised how effective vigilance and bonus surveils are, not even factoring in the mass artifact reanimation on the activated ability.

#38. Shanna, Purifying Blade

Shanna, Purifying Blade can draw a ton of cards, a hallmark of a true Bant commander. Everything beyond that’s up to your imagination with this lifelinker. It’s a dilemma you’ll run into a lot with these legends: You can get all the card draw in the world, but how do you actually win?

#37. Tuvasa the Sunlit

I feel like Tuvasa the Sunlit was the hottest commander for a minute, but how often do you really see it these days? Sythis, Harvest's Hand really has a chokehold on enchantress decks, huh? Tuvasa still has one thing going for it: It’s the only Bant merfolk commander in the game, for people who really want to add the white Lorwyn merfolk to the usual Simic () brigade.

#36. Angus Mackenzie

I’ve heard rumors that Angus Mackenzie is one of the “most annoying commanders” in the game, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one of these. Are people really running Fog as their commander? Is that even an effective strategy in a world where everyone gets to play The One Ring? It’s definitely a tedious ability, à la Spore Frog loops, but we’re talking Gray Ogre with a 3-mana activated ability.

This card’s also like a smooth $200 for a crumpled version with a spit-stain on it, so you can thank the Reserved List for that.

#35. Kros, Defense Contractor

Can’t say I’ve ever played against Kros, Defense Contractor, but I like the design. It’s a goad commander thinly disguised as a group hug commander, though it doesn’t really affect you directly. It’s more about keeping big creatures off your back, though I’m not sure what you do once it’s down to just you vs. the person you gave a bunch of shield counters to. Maybe you revert to stun counters at that point?

#34. Tamiyo, Field Researcher

Once my personal favorite planeswalker, it pains me to say Tamiyo, Field Researcher ain’t all that special. The first two abilities just aren’t great in Commander, but the emblem is scary enough that people have to attack this Bant card down anyway. You can’t just let someone have Omniscience plus an Ancestral Recall.

That makes Tamiyo optimal in decks that are trying to cheat the ultimate with counter-doubling effects, but if that’s what you’re doing the planeswalkers you play are pretty much all interchangeable.

#33. Shaun & Rebecca, Agents

A “secret commander” is the idea that your actual commander is a front for a much more important legend in the 99 of your deck. That’s what’s going on with Shaun & Rebecca, Agents. They’re in the command zone, but The Animus holds your real game plan.

The overall package here is sweet. Shaun & Rebecca, Agents tutors up your key card, fills your graveyard while ramping, and even provides the legendary you need for The Animus. I love the internal synergy! My only gripe is that there’s no way this ragtag team of desk junkies is a 4/4. C’mon now, be realistic.

#32. Peter Parker / Amazing Spider-Man or Surris, Spidersilk Innovator / Surris, Silk-Tech Vanguard

The Amazing Spider-Man, now there's a 4/4. Peter Parker is an optional step to give you two early permanents. On to the web-slinging, the global alternative cost for legends becomes super when used as a reduction on the cost of Absolute Virtue, Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant, or Zetalpa, Primal Dawn.

#31. Finest Hour

Finest Hour has been deemed “too slow” by the masses. They’re not wrong, but they’re also doing themselves a disservice by forgetting about this Bant card altogether. Any self-respecting Voltron deck can find a place for this enchantment, and there’s been an uptick in saboteur effects lately, too.

#30. Morska, Undersea Sleuth

I’m not going to pretend like Morska, Undersea Sleuth is that powerful, but I like it. And mom says I’m allowed to like things, so let me have this.

What I find interesting is how open-ended this Bant commander is. You can build around tokens, artifacts, draw-two payoffs, fish detectives, payoffs for Clue tokens, or even go the Voltron commander route if you so desire. I’m a sucker for flexible commanders.

#29. Katilda and Lier

Katilda and Lier is such a janky team-up card, it almost feels like it’s trying too hard. Yes, I get it, Katilda’s doing human stuff and Lier’s here for flashback, but is that really a deck mash-up anyone was excited for? I’m sure it’s strong with extra turns and such, but I’m not sure what the endgame is here; maybe you can send a decklist my way and help me out.

#28. Katara, the Fearless

The simple power behind Katara, the Fearless at this stage of waterbending mastery is amazing. If only it were not restricted to allies, but thanks to Constructed, I can go outside of the Avatar: The Last Airbender set and slot in some choice cards in Turntimber Ranger, Angel of Renewal, or Halimar Excavator.

#27. Perrie, the Pulverizer

I kinda like what Perrie, the Pulverizer’s putting down. It’s always fun to see what kind of ridiculous counters they come up with (Azor's Elocutors), so I’m intrigued by anything that incentivizes you to diversify your counter types. And the payoff’s kind of massive, right? Agent's Toolkit into Perrie’s already +4/+4 and trample on attacks, and that’s without factoring in nonsense like time counters, -1/-1 counters, etc.

#26. Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists

The Jurassic World crossover brought us some pretty inspired cards. And also Jeff Goldblum. Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists is exactly what I like to see in a commander: a high ceiling, but a legend that doesn’t just do everything on its own. This is a 5-mana play with an activated ability that requires setup and isn’t guaranteed to be all that effective. I know that sounds like I don’t care for it much, but I like when players aren’t spoon-fed hyper-efficiency.

#25. Charms

There was a time when on-color charms would be the first cards I slotted into a multicolor deck, but there are too many cards now for them to retain true staple status. Still, it’s hard to go wrong with a versatile charm effect, and all three of the Bant-aligned charms have their uses. I’m personally fond of Bant Charm because of the removal/counterspell dynamic. Treva's Charm is almost completely overshadowed by Brokers Charm.

#24. Ms. Bumbleflower

People seem to have really latched onto Bloomburrow‘s Ms. Bumbleflower, but I think that has less to do with the card being amazing and more to do with it being a legendary bunny named Ms. Bumbleflower. And sure, there’s some sweet Voltron/group hug hybrid action going on here, but as with Kros, Defense Contractor, this Bant card’s game plan goes south once you narrow the game down to just two players.

#23. Rigo, Streetwise Mentor

Rigo, Streetwise Mentor is one cool cat. I’m not sure what the plan is beyond just drawing a bunch of cards, but maybe there’s some deck full of Flying Men and Slither Blade types that pull it all together.

#22. Brokers Confluence

Confluences are basically just mega-charms, and Brokers Confluence is one of the lesser-known ones. These are good modes across the board, especially since Stifle effects tend to play out beautifully in Commander. Proliferate and phasing are also both conditionally powerful. The problem is crafting a deck that really wants all these modes, especially at this cost. Tripling down is always fine, but it feels like you’re leaving something on the table.

#21. Galadriel, Light of Valinor

Super Gala Greeters in the command zone! Assuming you’ve built your deck to trigger all three alliance modes each turn, that’s a lot of value, which is certainly the Bant way.

However, Galadriel, Light of Valinor is a 5-mana 3/3 that requires you play other creatures to get anything at all, which usually means trying to fade removal for a full turn cycle. At that point, you might as well just run Chulane, Teller of Tales and go for an even better effect.

#20. Wargate

Wargate is a flexible tutor, but one you don’t see very often due to color restrictions. Sure, it’s less efficient than Green Sun's Zenith, but you can fetch any permanent. That means you can toss this X-spell out there for X=0 to find your Maze's End or Field of the Dead, if need be.

#19. Sophia, Dogged Detective

I’d believe you if you told me this was a RoboRosewater card. The backup to Murders at Karlov Manor‘s Deep Clue Sea Commander precon, Sophia, Dogged Detective is a thinly veiled Scooby-Doo reference that actually makes for a strong Bant card. How much you want to lean into dogs, artifacts, both, or neither is completely up to you, but I’m gonna guess Tiny ain’t staying so tiny for long.

#18. Choco, Seeker of Paradise

Choco, Seeker of Paradise benefits from the well-established bird creature type. So birds attacking has a chance to get of card advantage and ramp. This beloved Final Fantasy character can get out of hand in a hurry.

#17. Lagrella, the Magpie

“Reading the card explains the card.” Lol, okay!

Let me break it down: When Lagrella, the Magpie enters, you can exile a creature each player controls (yourself included). Those creatures come back into play when Lagrella leaves, but yours enters with two +1/+1 counters on it. That’s good old-fashioned value, folks, kind of like a 3-mana Lumbering Battlement that yoinks opponents’ creatures, too.

#16. Falco Spara, Pactweaver

Imagine being the crime boss of the Brokers family and people still call you a Bant card. Falco Spara, Pactweaver was designed to play with the Brokers’ signature shield counters, but its Future Sight effect is more open-ended. Maybe too open-ended, since it opens the door for infinite combos with Devoted Druid. But to be honest, what doesn’t?

#15. Brokers Ascendancy

Perhaps the most broken rare in Streets of New Capenna Limited, Brokers Ascendancy is a bit tamer in Commander. Just a bit, mind you; a sweeping +1/+1 counter on all your creatures adds up fast, and you can even slot this into superfriends decks for extra loyalty counters.

#14. Kellan Joins Up

Another 3-mana enchantment that spreads around counters, eh? This one’s a little more restrictive than Brokers Ascendancy, but it has a much higher ceiling since it can trigger multiple times per turn. It even “refunds” the mana you spent on it if you’re able to plot another 3-drop from your hand.

#13. Alistair, the Brigadier

Alistair, the Brigadier is one of many cool legends to come out of Doctor Who. I’ve seen it in a few different varieties, from Bant soldiers to legends-matter. Either way, it amasses an army (without amassing an army, of course), then pumps them all to high heaven. It’s effective in a longer game, but Hill Giant stats aren’t winning it any awards.

#12. Endless Detour

If you’re a Bant deck, you should be playing Endless Detour. It has such a useful range of abilities, the problem being that it only fits in these specific 3-color decks. I especially like the versatility of the graveyard mode, since it can snipe a card from an opponent’s graveyard but also do a good Noxious Revival impression.

#11. Mr. Foxglove

“He’s the one they call Mr. Foxglove, he’s the one who make ya feel all right.” Mötley Crüe, anyone?

I’m not convinced Mr. Foxglove is all that impressive, but I applaud folks for trying. I just don’t have a lot of faith in a 5-drop commander that advertises either drawing tons of cards or putting a huge creature into play for free, especially since it needs to survive a turn to do anything relevant.

What’s that?

Lightning Greaves exists?

Wait a minute, this card’s awesome and no wonder its sly hat puts it at mythic rarity!

#10. Arcades, the Strategist

Arcades, the Strategist is still in the Top 20 most popular commanders according to EDHREC, which is a testament to the fact that some people really like big butts, and they cannot lie. My only gripe with Arcades is that all these big-toughness defender decks look and play exactly the same. They’re effective, though, and that’s what counts.

#9. Kellan, the Kid

Big dumb value Bant commander, a tale as old as time. Kellan, the Kid is one of many “cast-from-somewhere-other-than-your-hand” commanders (what I like to call paradox commanders), and the payoff here is casting more stuff for free. It has that classic Simic () buyout of just freerolling lands into play, too.

#8. Rafiq of the Many

Rafiq of the Many was an OG Voltron commander, and it’s still capable of one-shotting someone with the right build. People are down on commanders like this these days, ones that don’t provide immediate value and need to survive to do anything. But let me ask you this: If I ramp out Rafiq on turn 3 and your turn-3 play is Helga, Skittish Seer, who do you think’s going to win that game?

#7. Brenard, Ginger Sculptor

Brenard, Ginger Sculptor wears many hats: golem typal lord, Food payoff, token-maker. It’s the perfect home for all those dorky Splicer creatures, and it just kind of works as a great value engine even if you’re not doing anything thematic with it. It does ask one very important question of you though: Do you know the Muffin Man?

#6. Tidus, Yuna's Guardian

I get a little bummed that Tidus, Yuna's Guardian is stuck working with only creatures, but the ability to move counters and proliferate is very good. Ouroboroid, Fathom Mage and good old Luminous Broodmoth really put those counters to work and make Tidus an incredible team player.

#5. Noble Hierarch

Noble Hierarch this high up on the list isn’t only a breath of fresh air given its relative simplicity, but also a statement about just how good 1-drop mana dorks are. This is better than Birds of Paradise in exactly Bant decks, and that’s largely thanks to exalted. Is Noble Hierarch the strongest Bant card on this list? No, but it goes in every Bant deck you make.

#4. Chulane, Teller of Tales

I think the world just kind of tired itself out with Chulane, Teller of Tales. This card-draw commander was everywhere for years, and it’s just as obnoxious as it’s ever been. Maybe it’s too generic, and that’s why people have gravitated towards more interesting commanders. Still, the ramp + draw + bounce package is incredible, even on a 5-mana 2/4.

#3. Yuna, Grand Summoner

I'm incorrect to think of Yuna, Grand Summoner as a creature version of The Great Henge but I can't get past the comparison. Both provide mana and pump creatures up with +1/+1 counters, then rather than gaining life and drawing cards, Yuna turns any counters into chunky pumps for my team. Ever had your creature dropped by -1/-1 counters, a Simic Ascendancy get blown up at 19 counters, or a saga reach its last chapter? Each of these cases give you an evolved form of modular and powers up a creature in response.

#2. Helga, Skittish Seer

Is Helga, Skittish Seer the second coming of Chulane? Serious inquiry: I haven’t played against this yet at the time of writing. There’s obviously a mana value restriction on what works here, but Chulane doesn’t tap for mana and costs 5 itself, so maybe they meet in the middle somewhere? Helga makes mana and draws cards, which is usually an indication that you’re looking at a powerful commander.

#1. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

I’m starting a petition to errata Derevi, Empyrial Tactician with the pest creature type. Because that’s what this bird wizard is. Besides being one of the strongest stax commanders, of course. Whoever thought it’d be fine to design a commander that swoops in from the command zone free of commander tax: Ya done goofed. And that’s before you get into the tap/untap Winter Orb shenanigans.

Best Bant Payoffs

Bant’s original Shard of Alara keyword was exalted, which gave the color trio a distinct aggressive nature. It hasn’t really maintained that core identity through more recent printings, but it means the cards are there for Voltron builds if you seek them out.

Rafiq of the Many, Perrie, the Pulverizer, and Galea, Kindler of Hope all feel like they play into this space, with cards like Finest Hour and Noble Hierarch as great additions to the archetype.

Aragorn, the Uniter incorporates all of Bant’s colors, so you might consider one of these 3-color cards in your 4-color Aragorn deck.

There are also a decent number of artifact- and enchantment-based commanders in these colors, so affinity/enchantress support always has a home in Bant. Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor, Kestia, the Cultivator, Brenard, Ginger Sculptor, and Tuvasa the Sunlit all fit in here. One more card that is more of an enabler, but squarely in Bant is Urban Retreat.

What Is Bant Good at in MTG?

Annoying the crap out of people.

Seriously, modern-day Bant is probably most closely associated with value piles that draw out games without having definitive wincons. “I’m going to outvalue my opponents” is the wincon, and sometimes it works.

Bant’s closely associated with blink themes. You obviously have dedicated blink commanders like Roon of the Hidden Realm and Lagrella, the Magpie, but you also get to absorb all the usual Azorius-aligned blink payoffs, with a touch of green ramp added in. Bant is one of the best homes for Panharmonicon trigger-doubling effects.

Streets of New Capenna gave Brokers Bant more of a counters identity, and Tidus solidified it. The 3-color family uses shield counters as their signature mechanic and produces generically strong counter-based commanders like Falco Spara, Pactweaver and Perrie, the Pulverizer. Tidus, Yuna's Guardian and its Final Fantasy Commander deck took ownership of moving counters and are very impactful with great planeswalkers, sagas, and a host of other cards beyond +1/+1 counters.

And honestly, Bant’s just a great color for brewers. There are tons of open-ended commanders that don’t point you in a specific direction, letting you slot them into different strategies as you see fit.

Morska, Undersea Sleuth, Galadriel, Light of Valinor, Chulane, Teller of Tales, and Derevi, Empyrial Tactician are all excellent “plug-and-play” commanders that don’t hold your hand during deckbuilding. The Arena-only Vv'viza, Orbital Overseer is a hard to pronounce Brawl commander and super versatile since it gets you a free planet on ETB and an attack trigger that produces two useful artifact tokens. There are so many directions you can go with these, it really fuels my creativity.

Commanding Conclusion

Kellan Joins Up | Illustration by Wylie Beckert

I could sit here and gush about Bant cards all day long, but I’ve got to get out to my LGS and make people watch me cycle through value loops for 30 minutes on end. I’ve loved Bant since the day I bought the Derevi, Empyrial Tactician precon, and Wizards continues to pump out interesting and unique commanders in this color trio. Sure, some of them fall into the “value soup” category, but for each one of those you also get an Arcades, the Strategist or Brenard, Ginger Sculptor to open up completely new archetype space.

Bant not your thing? Well, that’s a shame, but you can check out our rankings in the other color trios here: Abzan cards, Esper cards, Grixis cards, Jeskai cards, Jund cards, Mardu cards, Naya cards, Sultai cards, and Temur cards.

Did I miss any of your favorite Bant cards? Do you call it Brokers, and if so, who are you trying to upset? Let me know in the comments or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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