The 30 Best Beast Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on March 16, 2026

Slinza, the Spiked Stampede | Illustration by Kenta Ishikawa

When I was a kid, one of my favorite movies was the terrible Beastmaster from 1982. It has awesome little ferrets, Rip Torn, and these winged devourer things that digested you between their arms. He can, like, commune with the beasts and stuff. It’s a very ‘80s movie rule: Only bad guys wear clothes with sleeves!

I really, really want to like things with beasts in them, but Magic makes it tough. They’re mana intensive to cast, and that’s sort of their identity. You really need special cards to help make MTG beasts playable. And often that’s going to be a commander.

If you have a bunch of beasts in storage looking to ravage FNM, this list of the best beast commanders is for you!

What Are Beast Commanders in MTG?

Rhonas the Indomitable | Illustration by Chase Stone

There are three types of cards that I include in this ranking: commanders that are beasts themselves, typal commanders who specifically support the beast creature type, and commanders that are effective given what beasts tend to be like. You know, big and dumb.

And that’s the trouble with beasts in Commander overall, and it will inform these rankings. Beasts tend to be big, but you can’t win with a deck filled with Gruul () 4-drops. So these decks need to ramp and then hit some kind of combo finish, whether that’s tutoring up old faithful Craterhoof Behemoth or doing some more obscure things enabled by the best beast commanders.

Ready for beast wars?

#30. Nyla, Shirshu Sleuth

Nyla, Shirshu Sleuth is a slow gravedigger at it's core, but where this beast excels is in giving you lots of clues at once. Maybe you have to go get June, Bounty Hunter from the graveyard, that's two artifacts that represent a lot more than just one new card. Give a sniff to the uses for your clues with Persuasive Interrogators, Mirkwood Bats, or Technodrome.

#29. Kaheera, the Orphanguard

Kaheera, the Orphanguard is never going to be your Selesnya commander (), but it can be a nice companion if you’re running all beasts and can play in white. That means a lack of utility creatures, like elven mana dorks, so that’s a lot harder in beasts than in some of the other creature types Kaheera supports, like cats.

#28. Morophon, the Boundless

You can technically do this to run 5-color beasts, but Morophon, the Boundless is usually doing bigger, broken, top-tier commander, shapeshifter-y things. This 5-color commander makes you a huge target at the table while you wait to get enough mana for your Godsire.

#27. Rhonas the Indomitable

Oh, man, I felt so cool when I pulled this mono-green commander and built my first mono-green fight deck. That kind of thing is really good in 1v1 Commander! But as you can imagine, it’s awful in multiplayer games! Rhonas the Indomitable parties with some green beasts if you need to wake it up eventually, because I guess that’s part of how you win here? When I, well, got good, I took this apart and slotted Rhony into some deck’s 99. And when it pops off the top of the library, I think: “Ah, good times.”

#26. Migloz, Maze Crusher

Is oil counters plus Phyrexians a good enough deck? No. But Migloz, Maze Crusher is your Gruul commander if you want to give it a try. And the good Phyrexians in Gruul are often beasts, like Evolved Spinoderm and Bloated Contaminator. And when I say “good” I’m talking not quite good enough for its Limited environment in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, so take that with a grain of salt, or maybe a drop of oil?

#25. Red XIII, Proud Warrior

One of the secretly great things about Red XIII, Proud Warrior is that it truly supports the other cards in your deck so it is less likely to get removed right away. That retrieval of an aura or equipment is key so players may bank up removal for when you cast the returned modifier, but in the mean time, you enjoy vigilance and trample, and if you've not been socialized with +1/+1 counters this proud puppy is a cool way to pull this off.

#24. Vincent Valentine / Galian Beast

It floors me how fast Vincent Valentine grows into a viciously strong assassin. Any opponent foolish enough to use expendable creature tokens or cards like Ball Lightning super charges Vincent. Fire off one of black's signature removal spells and it becomes a pump spell. Galian Beast earns you back chunks of life and has that all-important trample to use every bit of power that is put on the table. Do your best black impression of protection spells and the Galian Beast can use all your support to win.

#23. Nikya of the Old Ways

The tradeoff here is always fun to explore. My preferred build of this deck is to tutor for Gruul Ragebeast or another card that gives your creatures fight abilities, but that’s a really stupid way to build the deck, given how useless those topdecks are when you cast Nikya of the Old Ways. I find that once you start dropping huge battlecruisers ahead of schedule, the table reluctantly removes Nikya, and you can tutor yourself back into business. This a super “’90s Magic Boomer” card in so many ways, so I like it! But I shouldn’t.

#22. Gahiji, Honored One

Goad matters is a fun deck… to pilot. It’s really gross for everyone else. Goad is a sweet EDH mechanic, but a whole deck around it is just oppressive. People don’t like never having a choice. If you want to be the person who runs a bunch of beast plus stuff like Taunt from the Rampart and Disrupt Decorum, Gahiji, Honored One is maybe a slower reveal than Marisi, Breaker of the Coil as your Naya commander ().

#21. Surrak Dragonclaw

I see this commanding some beast decks, but I don’t quite get it. Surrak Dragonclaw feels like decade ago tech against that dude who always brings Talrand, Sky Summoner and a grip of countermagic. As TSwizzle sang back in 2014: “Shake It Off.”

#20. Anzrag, the Quake-Mole

The mole god here does love running a few beasts, but I’m not exactly a believer in the Anzrag, the Quake-Mole life.

#19. Questing Beast

I’m not sure this is where you want to be in mono-green, but Questing Beast has the neat trick of being able to use Fog effects as combat tricks. That works once as a surprise, but then you have to find some explosive ramp to be able to make opponents have to block and take the trick. Sure.

#18. Mayael the Anima

An old fashioned commander that gets better the more Tooth and Nail variants like Smuggler's Surprise are printed, Mayael the Anima does better in local metas where people don’t play a lot of removal spells. Just pack the Heroic Intervention, Teferi's Protection, and similar protection spells to keep your board alive.

#17. Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel + Nikara, Lair Scavenger

There are a few better options as Abzan commanders () for +1/+1 counters synergies, including the best option, Ghave, Guru of Spores, but Nikara, Lair Scavenger can go off with card draw, which is cool. Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel, your beast, is cool if you’re playing a blink package, and then these two start to pop off. The blink helps keep these partners alive, as well. When the deck is firing on all cylinders, it’s really fun to play.

#16. Xenagos, God of Revels + Samut, Voice of Dissent

There are some edge cases where these Gruul staples helm beast decks, but Xenagos, God of Revels and Samut, Voice of Dissent are mostly here to enable extra combat steps nonsense, so I’d be wary of using these as face commanders for anything else.

#15. Otrimi, the Ever-Playful + Brokkos, Apex of Forever

Which Sultai commander () you use as your mutate commander isn’t super relevant to the recursive mutate deck under the hood. If all goes well, each will be on the battlefield for you eventually, looping things out of the graveyard. Brokkos, Apex of Forever feels better if your EDH meta is removal heavy. Otrimi, the Ever-Playful lurks in the command zone to get that combat damage trigger at the right time to start the chain. The deck falls apart to graveyard hate, but there’s only so many counterspells you want in a deck like this. Not my favorite thing.

#14. Animar, Soul of Elements

Animar, Soul of Elements is a top-tier Temur commander () who has better things to do than sleeve up a flock of beasts, but it happens. I’d avoid powerhouse commanders with underpowered archetypes, and there are more beast-typal things you can do in Temur.

#13. The Howling Abomination

Usually an include in a beast typal deck, The Howling Abomination is a fun spellslinger commander or Voltron commander with a number of infinite combos that can be safely tucked into its 99. Which means I wouldn’t want the target on my back sleeving this or the Universes Beyond version of Blanka, Ferocious Friend up as my commander with a vanilla deck of beasts.

#12. Marath, Will of the Wild

There seems to be something alluring about avoiding taxes (if you ask a bunch of folks in federal prison), and Marath, Will of the Wild gives you that feeling in MTG form. Marath doesn’t exactly avoid commander tax, but, like my buddy Verazol, the Split Current, it uses the tax to its advantage, converting it to +1/+1 counters. With enough ramp you can purposefully deplete it to death repeatedly to utilize its toolbox abilities. The deck uses a few beasts that like the counters space, but it’s filled with those synergies across creature types.

#11. Loot, the Pathfinder

Loot, the Pathfinder is a cool Temur commander that begs for a bounce back to your hand or flicker after activating it three times. I'll use Boomerang Basics, follow it up with Essence Flux, airbending, or upgrade it to Deadeye Navigator. Either way, I earn the stamina to get around exhaust, keep activating Loot and it lines up with fun and flexibility.

#10. Radagast, Wizard of Wilds

Ramp and cast high mana value beasts. Okay, that was going happen anyway in BeastLand. What we get for all that in a Simic () limited color scheme, is ward 1 and a fellow token on every creature we cast. I feel like Radagast, Wizard of Wilds has been too into the shrooms to be of much payoff for us.

#9. Nethroi, Apex of Death

A second tier mutate commander, Nethroi, Apex of Death gives access to white, which allows in fellow beast Necropanther and a host of Abzan cards providing removal and drain and gain strategies. The deck is hard to focus but can get all the right pieces humming. Sometimes.

#8. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

You’ve drafted Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma before, at least in Cube. It plays out the same as a commander. Ramp, ramp, ramp, and then start dropping fatties at a discount. Turn things sideways. There are over 200 beasts in mono-green, including cards like Affectionate Indrik that start to look really good if you can cast them on sale for 2 less mana. Just pack enough Ranger's Guile effects to keep Goreclaw swinging.

#7. Kona, Rescue Beastie

There are some high value beasts in the Beastie deck, but a Kona, Rescue Beastie deck wants stuff with totally wild mana costs to cheat in, like Worldspine Wurm, Apex Altisaur, Sandwurm Convergence, and Virtue of Strength. Simple convoke spells like Gather Courage get good in a deck like this that doesn’t want to wait to untap Kona. Pack all the Tamiyo's Safekeeping effects you can!

#6. Tawnos, the Toymaker

Doubling ETBs while triggering off cheap birds and beasts makes Tawnos, the Toymaker the preferred beasts and birds commander to Radagast. When I try to build this deck I almost always choose more birds than beasts, but that just reveals that (skip ahead if you’re a beast typal fan who is easily triggered) birds are just better than beasts. You can get onboard cheaper and the flying is inherently good.

#5. Loot, the Key to Everything

Loot, the Key to Everything is a nice, powerful, flexible good-stuff commander in Temur that just happens to also be a beast. There won’t be a lot of beasts in the deck, which often plays out a lot like The Thirteenth Doctor plus Yasmin Khan, leaning in to impulse draw payoffs like Nalfeshnee. Will the new tryhard branding icon or a Universes Beyond situation be more triggering to your playgroup?

#4. Loot, Exuberant Explorer

Because we needed to power creep Azusa, Lost but Seeking, we have Loot, Exuberant Explorer, looking dramatically off to the left at what I’m imagining is a PowerPoint of designs for further Loot branding synergies. Loot wants you to ramp to expensive plays and try to win from there. Some of those are beasts. And there’s always Craterhoof Behemoth, beast mode beast.

#3. Uril, the Miststalker

An obnoxious aura commander that has no real love for fellow beasts besides Aura Gnarlid, Uril, the Miststalker packs a punch with auras. Since you don’t need cards like Alpha Authority for the Uber Bogle, you can stock the deck with more impactful auras for Voltron commander damage, while peppering in enchantress card draw as needed.

#2. Tayam, Luminous Enigma

An engine on its own for a reanimator and Insidious Roots Abzan recursion deck, Tayam, Luminous Enigma also happens to be a beast. You’re deep in the sauce if you’re stooping to Icatian Moneychanger in this deck, but respect.

#1. Slinza, the Spiked Stampede

The best Gruul commander, Foundations‘ Slinza, the Spiked Stampede is engineered for this role, giving a huge mana discount to beast cards, a nice fight trigger to help manage the difficult task of balancing creatures and removal, and just enough of a red pip to allow you to sleeve up old favorites like Spellbreaker Behemoth.

Best Beast Payoffs

Beasts are their own payoff! Just because you wander around all shirtless doing sword tricks doesn’t mean you get to mentally control me with your brain powers, Marc Singer!

Sorry. Back in the ‘80s again. But seriously, if you get the mana going and get a board of beasts down, you’ll win a lot of combats, fight some stuff, and generally do big dumb creature stuff to victory. There are a few specialized payoffs beyond getting your board totally swole, though.

Beasts tend to be big, and although there are plenty of 2/2s and 3/3s at common, at higher rarities beasts can easily get to 4 power and greater. There are cards that synergize with this, like Rhonas the Indomitable, and there are plenty of Magic cards with ferocious. They aren’t super deep, but cards like Shamanic Revelation and Woodland Liege can be gas in decks like these.

Ride the Shoopuf is a late game beast when you need an extra biggen, and Baloth Prime is a huge creature that can pump out 4/4 beasts almost as well as Rampaging Baloths. Then the classic green finisher is also a beast, so it just feels right to direct a beast deck to Craterhoof Behemoth. That’s easiest in an elfball environment with cheaper creatures, but when you can start to synergize and get these beasts down on the field more quickly, it’s time to call forth the Hoof.

Commanding Conclusion

Tayam, Luminous Enigma | Illustration by Sam Burley

There are some interesting buildaround commanders here, yes? You might not have thought that given how beasts tend to play out in other MTG formats. But there’s room for creativity here, and you can make these decks work in interesting ways, even if you do wear sleeves.

But overall beasts are underpowered, I’d say. You have to work for it, but sometimes I like that kind of challenge in Commander. Still, I’d like to see beasts get a bit more oomph in the game, especially given how mysterious and resonant they can be. What exactly are these things? How do they look on different planes? My thought is to specify like WotC did turning amass into amass orcs and manifest into manifest dread. Let’s have flavors of ferocious, with the first being “ferocious beast” and add some typal synergies in there! That way beasts can get better without busting Standard.

What do you think of that idea? Let us know in the comments or on Discord.

And happy brewing!