All 11 Bat Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on February 26, 2026

Zoraline, Cosmos Caller | Illustration by Justin Gerard

Take me out to the ball game…. Oh, silly me! Wrong Bats.

-The Joker, probably

Bats in Magic have often been linked with vampires, but given the lack of humanoids in the Bloomburrow Magic set, there’s a little bit more distance between them. Not much, though: Orzhov () remains the main home for our favorite flying mammals.

There are very few options if you want a bat commander for your EDH table, so let’s take flight to survey what’s available.

What Are Bat Commanders in MTG?

Timothar, Baron of Bats | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

Bat commanders are primarily legendary creatures with the bat creature subtype and other eligible commanders that mention bats in their rules text.

There are fewer than 55 bats as of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and they’re primarily black cards. If you want to run them all in a deck, you’d need an Esper commander (). You can also fit most bats into an Orzhov lifegain deck, but lifegain is a vast enough theme that I’ll let you judge a lifegain commander‘s viability for yourself.

#11. Wingnut, Bat on the Belfry

If it looks like a bat, flaps like a bat, and above all is a legendary bat, then yeah, it's a bat commander.

But if it would be atrocious in the command zone, that's still one bat you really don't want as your commander. Wingnut, Bat on the Belfry is just plain awful for this job: it's in the wrong color (there are no other red bats!), has no synergy with bats or fliers, and most of the time it won't even be a flier!

#10. Surgeon General Commander

It’s got a silver border, and it’s not really a bat typal commander anyway. I love the idea of Surgeon General Commander. You could always make a mutate or auras deck around it while ignoring the augment text. Just have a friendly Rule 0 conversation about it.

It ain't easy being green when you're a bat, though!

#9. Momo, Rambunctious Rascal

Momo, Rambunctious Rascal, from Avatar: The Last Airbender, is a white commander, which is only marginally better than a red commander: most bats are black or Orzhov, so you'd be leaving out most of your flock. And this Momo has minimal bat synergy anyway.

#8. Momo, Playful Pet

Momo, Playful Pet has the same problems as Momo, Rambunctious Rascal. It's a much better card in the 99, and even sees competitive play in Duel Commander. But for your command zone, it's a hard pass.

#7. Momo, Friendly Flier

Momo, Friendly Flier is almost there. The problem is still its color identity, but this Momo does want you to play fliers and provides cost reduction for all your bats (and any other non-Lemur flier). 

It's great in the 99 of a bat deck, though!

#6. Alela, Artful Provocateur

I keep finding reasons to run Alela, Artful Provocateur as a commander for some niche theme, and this time, it’s a creature type that’s full of fliers but low on potential commanders. Alela’s lifelink matches nicely with the lifegain/life drain that bats often play into, and I guess you can add some auras and equipment that increase the power of your lifelinkers, give them double strike and other relevant abilities. And of course, Sanguine Bond combos can be your win condition.

#5. Elenda and Azor

Elenda and Azor pumps out lifelinking Vampire Knight tokens, which feels like a better Esper home. You won’t have enough card draw in a batty Elenda and Azor deck to use its abilities to their full potential, but the Vampire Knights synergize both mechanically and flavorfully with bats.

#4. Timothar, Baron of Bats

Timothar, Baron of Bats creates Bat tokens, but I don’t really think of it as a bat commander. Its tokens only serve as ways to reanimate your vampires, which is what this deck wants to do. You could supplement your vampires with a few bats like Mirkwood Bats and Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal, but at its core, this wants to be a vampire deck.

#3. Blex, Vexing Pest / Search for Blex

Bats are one of the creature types that Blex, Vexing Pest mentions in its rules text, so you can run it as your bat commander if you want to. You’ll only have access to the mono-black bats, so it’s a good idea to supplement that strategy with some of the lifegain you can get from Strixhaven’s Witherbloom/Golgari () cards. Food tokens aren’t the worst idea with this Golgari commander, since making and sacrificing them synergizes with Mirkwood Bats.

#2. Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal / Temple of the Dead

This black bat god wants to be at the front of a discard deck, and we’ve got plenty of mono-black discard enablers for that. Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal rewards you with Bat tokens when your opponents discard lands, but Waste Not can add to that value by increasing the card types that pay you off. The mono-black bats won’t help you here, though; only Dementia Bats discards, and that’s a 5-mana creature with a 5-mana activated ability that asks you to sacrifice it, too.

#1. Zoraline, Cosmos Caller

It’s not really a contest, frankly. The only legal bat that Zoraline, Cosmos Caller can’t run is Voidwing Hybrid. You can reanimate many bats in the game with this Orzhov commander‘s attack trigger, and that pairs nicely with Desecrated Tomb to add more Bat tokens to the field.

Best Bat Commander Payoffs

Any bat commander that generates utility tokens is going to want Mirkwood Bats in its decklist. Moonstone Eulogist is another fit since it’ll pay you off for sacrificing artifacts, including tokens. Desecrated Tomb generates Bat tokens when creatures leave your graveyard, which can be more or less relevant depending on your commander. You can also use Lunar Convocation to help widen your board with tokens.

Bat commanders tend to fool around with lifegain and life loss, much like vampire commanders. Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood, along with similar combos, are probably going to be your most consistent win conditions in these decks. Sure, most of your bats are fliers, but they don’t swing for massive damage like angels, dragons, or vampires might.

Moonstone Harbinger gives your bats a slight power buff and deathtouch whenever you gain or lose life during your turn, which should be nearly every turn in these decks.

Bontu's Monument is another decent payoff, since most bats have black in their color identity, and the fiddling with life totals is right up bats’ alley. Generic typal buffs like Patchwork Banner can also help to make your bat army more imposing.

Commanding Conclusion

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal | Illustration by Steve Prescott

And with that, we can find a cozy little alcove and settle in for the day.

Despite being tied to vampires, bats don’t have much going on in terms of bat commanders. Before Bloomburrow, you could even say that they didn’t even have a proper typal commander, which is a downright shame. I expect future bat commanders are going to do similar things with lifegain as vampires do, but I hope that we don’t have to wait ‘til the next Innistrad visit to get some.

Which other commanders would you consider for your bat deck? Do you want bats to stick to these colors, or do you want to see them branch out? Let me know in the comments below, or come roost in the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, happy tiger moth hunting! (Unless you’re a fruit bat)