All 19 Bear Commanders in Magic Ranked

Ayula, Queen Among Bears | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

Bear with me while I get a few of these out of my system. In Magic, we often talk about the right to bear arms, be those the most powerful infinite combos or the saltiest strategies. But sometimes, it’s nice to kick back and look for the… (sing it with me now).

Yes, some bear commanders offer the simple, bare necessities, but they also get up to endless mischief. We’ve got a wide range of bears, from ones you want to have afternoon tea with to those that would maul you, no questions asked.

So grab a salmon or a honeypot, queue up Richard Thompson’s gorgeous Grizzly Man soundtrack, and let’s see what Magic’s bears and bear lovers have in store for Commander players.

What Are Bear Commanders in MTG?

Hurska Sweet-Tooth | Illustration by Gossan

Bear commanders are any eligible commanders (legendary creatures, vehicles, or spacecraft, along with other cards with the explicit “may be your commander” rules text) that either have the bear creature subtype or mention it in their rules text.

Bear commanders feature heavily in green, including many mono-green options. They’re often sizeable creatures that have mechanics that distribute +1/+1 counters or fight or punch opposing creatures, though we also have some classic 2/2 bears to lead the charge.

#19. Beorn, Reluctant Host

The neat thing about Beorn, Reluctant Host in the command zone is that you can always cast its adventure first as an Explore minus the cantrip (boo, hiss), then cast the 5-mana trampler for the usual price. I guess you could do some kind of mono-green landfall deck, but there are so many better commanders for that. Even Tatyova, Benthic Druid is legal for Pauper Commander, so… why bother?

#18. Bosco, Just a Bear

Adorable art aside, Bosco, Just a Bear is… yep, just a bear. Mass Food token generation based on your legendary creatures is whatever, at best. There just isn’t enough intersection between legendary creatures and Food tokens or payoffs in mono-green. Bosco can convert food permanents into counters for itself, but you’ve spent 8 mana to cast your commander and pump it up to a 6/6 trampler that doesn’t even have haste. Stick to what you’re good at, buddy.

#17. Spider-Ham, Peter Porker

Pig of all trades, master of none. Spider-Ham, Peter Porker is a lord for bears, but unlike boars, there’s plenty of mono-green bear commanders with similar mana values and more impactful abilities. Only run this as your bear commander if you’re building some kind of Bracket 1 deck.

#16. Halsin, Emerald Archdruid

The most common background pairing for Halsin, Emerald Archdruid is Inspiring Leader (but don’t consider me inspired). Together, they make a Selesnya () token deck that can pump 1/1 tokens into 6/6s, though you’ll need mana to feed into Halsin to apply it to a wide board. The bear angle is just Halsin changing the token’s type. You can animate utility tokens too, which gives it some extra kick, I guess.

#15. Surrak and Goreclaw

A trample enabler that also grants both modes of a riot ability (think Rhythm of the Wild) is an incredible aggro support piece. But at 6 mana in mono-green, and with no cost reduction, Surrak and Goreclaw just finds its way into decks that can cheat it out more easily. For comparison, you can cast Ayula twice, including your first round of commander tax, for the same amount of mana it takes to get this March of the Machine duo out once. No, I like this bear more in the 99 of a billion other decks more than in the command zone.

#14. Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance

Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance rewards you both when it enters or attacks, and while combat seems like the fair way to go about it, I’m wondering if you could blink or sac/reanimate your commander enough to make this spicier. I appreciate how Hei Bai’s own triggers make The Ozolith optional, considering that it isn’t exactly the most budget-friendly card at the moment.

#13. Casal, Lurkwood Pathfinder / Casal, Pathbreaker Owlbear

Casal, Lurkwood Pathfinder, released as Doric, Nature's Warden in the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Secret Lair, is another legends-matter bear, but at least it ramps you when it enters. Transforming your commander gives your legends an overrun, but you can only transform Casal mid-combat, and a Moonmist won’t work, either. Casal also auto-transforms during your upkeep, so just continue to attack and pay mana to keep the engine chugging.

#12. Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius

Plotting only works with Outlaws of Thunder Junction cards for now, but Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius applies cost reduction to many other archetypes. It usually plays support in decks built around mechanics like foretell and adventures, or specific reanimator or cast-from-exile builds, but this bear druid offers you a flexible commander to build around those mechanics at a lower power level.

#11. Hurska Sweet-Tooth

Hurska Sweet-Tooth isn’t the most busted Jumpstart mythic, but it can lead a fun Selesnya lifegain deck built around a silly old bear. Its specific lifegain payoff rewards you more for massive life swings than incremental pings; you’ll want a ferocious Feed the Clan over a Soul Sister, but Food tokens are a fine backbone. Especially when you have Sam, Loyal Attendant to save you mana to spend on Hurska’s trigger instead.

#10. The Earth King

Now here’s an example of an ability that has the ferocious template, but not the ability word itself. It’s just a word, and yet….

The Hobbit has given The Earth King a very thematic landfall card in the form of Dancing from Dark to Dawn. I’m having visions of combining these two with Tribute to the World Tree, which would lead to a deck that needs a lot of basics.

#9. Ruxa, Patient Professor

Jasmine Boreal of the Seven is the more popular vanilla creatures commander since it lets you run the iconic Savannah Lions, among lots of other creatures, and white improves your token and counter doublers. But Ruxa, Patient Professor is no slouch, especially because you can hyperfocus on bears given the number of vanilla bears in the game, plus the Bear token generators we have in green. You don’t need evasive abilities when your commander makes your vanilla creatures assign combat damage as though they’re unblocked.

#8. Wilson, Refined Grizzly

The opposite of a vanilla creature is one that sports a bunch of keywords, and Wilson, Refined Grizzly is a soupy bear, indeed. With a focus on combat abilities over complicated text, Wilson fits in alongside many backgrounds. A bear for all seasons, if you will.

Raised by Giants gives you a Voltron build that can threaten commander damage. Noble Heritage and Flaming Fist turn Wilson into two different flavors of Selesnya decks. But at the end of the day, the bear usually remains your focus, no matter which background you choose.

#7. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

Big. Beefy. Battlecruisers. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma wants you to launch an armada of them. Cost reduction for beefy creatures, then Goreclaw pumps your creatures as you attack. Commander Masters downshifted this bear to uncommon, but that doesn’t make it any less potent, especially when new sets continue to give us new power-matters cards to upgrade our arsenals.

#6. Hei Bai, Forest Guardian

As one of our few 5-color shrine commanders, Hei Bai, Forest Guardian naturally has a place as one of its archetype’s catch-all options. Its enters ability is a tutor, and you have your pick of other legendary tutors, enchantment tutors, and enchantresses to surround this bear spirit. But if you’re looking for something with more power, use your tutors to grab a blink loop that lets you snag every Honden and Go-Shintai in your library. That should make for a (ugh) shrine time.

#5. Duskana, the Rage Mother

For the uninitiated, Duskana, the Rage Mother is a riff on Magic slang, and how we have often referred to 2/2 creatures as “bears” (also hence the term “hatebear” for a creature with approximately 2/2 stats and imposing, sometimes stax-like abilities).

As a commander? Duskana refuels your hand when you cast it on a developed board, and it takes your creatures from modest to mean as you attack. Its abilities mean that your typical lords and anthems aren’t as useful here, but the uniqueness of caring about 2/2s leads to a rewarding deckbuilding experience. How many 2/2s in Magic history are there that are impactful enough to fill slots that you’d usually give to staples? How many more are going to be printed, especially as we get more adventures and prepared spells? Hmm, I might be convincing myself that Duskana is the personification of power creep.

Oh, and did I mention that the buff stacks if you trigger extra combats?

#4. Ayula, Queen Among Bears

Ayula, Queen Among Bears had to carry the burden of chief bear commander ever since the first Modern Horizons. And it was our first real bear commander, which is surprisingly recent, given how bears have been in Magic since the start.

The “bearfall” abilities are very momma bear; one ability to nurture a bear and help it grow, the other to send a bear to take care of an opposing threat. Bears have come a long way since the vanilla 2/2s like Grizzly Bears, but they’ve also come a fair ways since Ayula. Bow or curtsy to the queen, but don’t dawdle, because the bear procession ain’t quite over yet.

#3. Beorn the Fierce

Card draw isn’t the strong suit of mono-green typal decks; they often rely on the same old tricks, namely Beast Whisperer, Toski, Bearer of Secrets, and Ohran Frostfang. Realmwalker offers acceleration from the top of your deck; Sylvan Anthem scries. All hits, no b-sides or deep cuts.

Beorn the Fierce gives you extra cards every combat if you control enough bears, but it can also turn utility creatures (cough, cough) into bears if you don’t otherwise have enough. Trample as counters rather than a static ability like Surrak and Goreclaw is slower and more interactable, but the trade-off is a strong typal bump to all your bears. But as with most mono-green bears, the best case is when they’re all out together. Move over Kudo; I know who Ayula’s partner is for the next Pride event.

Also. Gigantic Big Bear is a 12/9 with Beorn the Fierce on the battlefield, and we have enough Bear token generators now to rival our Pilot token generators. So if you want to brew a Bracket 1 Bears on Bikes (vehicles) or Bears in Space (spacecraft) deck, who would I be to stop you?

#2. Lumra, Bellow of the Woods

Mass land recursion paired with landfall is a recipe for explosive value, and Lumra, Bellow of the Woods gives you each piece of the puzzle. Its enters trigger starts with some self-mill then brings all your lands back, and Lumra’s stats are determined by your land base, like a Dungrove Elder that counts nonbasics. It’s so good that it’s a mono-green commander with cEDH potential, though don’t ask me about its win rate in that meta.

#1. Kudo, King Among Bears

Kudo, King Among Bears might be named as Ayula’s counterpart, but I think the bear king has heard the call of Phyrexia, considering how well it works with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite to wipe your opponents’ boards (Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar is happy to watch and pump out cards if you don’t immediately kill everyone.)

Kudo autobuffs 1/1 tokens, and Selesnya has plenty of ways to stack on counters to offset what your commander does to your creatures’ stats. The auto-bear typing also allows you to run your favorite selection of creatures with useful abilities. But you know how I said Kudo worked better with Elesh Norn than Ayula? Oops, that’s false, because it enables infinite combos with Ayula and Scurry Oak or Basking Broodscale.

As with the best bears (and dads?), Kudo gives you the necessities and a little direction, then lets you have your own fun. Thanks, Papa Bear.

Commanding Conclusion

Duskana, the Rage Mother | Illustration by Samuel Perin

The bear commander population has had a bit of an explosion with the last few sets, but I’m not going to complain. It took far too long to get our first, and there’s still some work to be done. Save for the 5-color Hei Bai or a Golgari Wilson or Halsin deck, we still don’t have a bear commander that’ll let us run Grizzly Ghoul with its brethren. Now, which potential Universes Beyond property could I shoehorn a 5-color bears commander into….

Which bear commanders do you run? Do you brew them for fun or power? Let me know in the comments below or over on the Draftsim Discord. For more from us, subscribe to our YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep.

After that, I’m ready to hibernate. See you next spring!

(Who am I kidding? There’s another set in like five days I need to prepare for.)