The 13 Best Commander Cards of 2025

Last updated on December 22, 2025

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian | Illustration by Andrea Piparo

Let's keep this restrospective train rolling, shall we? I had the pleasure of reviewing all the major sets released in 2025, and my colleagues have covered a few other topics, so check these out while you're at it:

• The Biggest News Stories of 2025
• The Best New Commanders of 2025
• The Best Commander Precons of the year

And now, we get to look at the best cards printed into EDH throughout 2025. Our writer Andy's already tackled the top-tier commanders. This list includes a few legends, but doesn't comment on their viability in the Command Zone, only the 99.

#13. Mistrise Village

Maybe Mistrise Village deserves to be more of an honorable mention, but there was so much hype surrounding its release that it seemed like it was worth bringing up. Taxing your own spells by 2 mana just to force them through countermagic doesn't seem amazing, until it is. It's a card that mono-blue decks cringe at, and a pointed answer to a metagame full of control players.

My list doesn't focus on cEDH at all, but I can imagine this has a home there, given the sheer amount of stack interaction in that format.

#12. Umbral Collar Zealot

This is by far the least flashy card on this list, but Umbral Collar Zealot proves its worth in all sorts of aristocrats decks. It's the perfect sac outlet: No mana, instant speed, sacrifices creatures and artifacts, and even has relevant combat stats for the three aristocrats players who actually attack with their creatures.

This is the new bar for a free sac outlet, and I'm hoping it's a sign of more pushed cards in the aristocrats space. Gotta mention Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER too, though I left it off the list proper since we covered it in our commanders overview.

#11. Tataru Taru

Fair Smothering Tithe, and an adorable one at that. Not only is Tataru Taru fun to pronounce, it's also just great. Make a buddy at the table, cantrip while making at least one Treasure token, then pile up additional Treasures if people start drawing outside their own turns. You can obviously force the issue with symmetrical card draw, and it has legs in group hug decks, too. Ms. Bumbleflower‘s a super popular commander for a reason.

#10. Yuna's Decision

I believe Yuna's Decision has slipped through the cracks a bit. This underrated gem looks like a premier way to cheat creatures into play. It's no Natural Order, but its only restriction is that your haymaker must come from your hand. It even offers modality as a double Regrowth of sorts, which is an awesome buyout when you're not using the first mode. Let me know if you think I'm overevaluating it, but I'm surprised there hasn't been more conversation surrounding this Final Fantasy Commander card.

#9. Insight Engine

It took a little nudging to remind people this came in their Edge of Eternities precon, but after just a few months people caught on to just how much card advantage you could squeeze out of Insight Engine. You need to be doing something beyond what's written on the tin, whether that's untapping artifacts, proliferating charge counters, or benefitting from card draw in some way, but put in just an ounce of extra work and the Engine gets a-rolling.

People have compared it to The One Ring, which isn't that far off if you focus solely on the card draw.

#8. Horizon Explorer

Of all the cards listed here, Horizon Explorer is the closest to a “pet card” that you'll see. I love cards that just push a bunch of different knobs, and a repeat Lander token generator does just that. It creates artifacts and tokens, ramps via Lander activations, and has the secretly amazing text of making your lands enter untapped, which we've been seeing a lot more lately.

Best of all, the card was templated so you can max out on one Lander per player attacked each combat, so an aggressive landfall deck can pile up Landers in a hurry, and each Lander you sac essentially discounts the next, since the basics you search up enter untapped. I'm curious what peoples' experience with Horizon Explorer has been so far.

#7. Will of the Mardu

If you're not already playing Will of the Mardu in your white creature decks, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. It's a cheap way to flood the board with tokens while also removing a threat from the board, and you don't even need your commander in play to get value off of it. This is an exceptional print from the Mardu Surge precon, so you might even have an overlooked copy lying around.

#6. Starting Town & Multiversal Passage

Just a quick shout to some additional 5-color lands we got this year. Starting Town and Multiversal Passage will see tons of play from this point forward, with a nod towards Passage for actually picking up basic land types. And the tinyest of shoutouts to Vibrant Cityscape for adding Yet Another Evolving Wilds™ to the mix.

#5. The Soul Stone

Love it or hate it (probably the latter), Marvel's Spider-Man happened this year, and as much as we want to rail on the set, it actually delivered some goodies for Commander. Not a lot, since there were only like 12 cards in the set or whatever, but we've got to acknowledge The Soul Stone as the obvious headliner of the set. We just don't get viable 2-cost mana rocks very often, with the last universally playable one being Arcane Signet released 5+ years ago now.

The Soul Stone‘s harness ability is a bit overblown given the massive set-up cost, but it's all gravy on a massive upgrade to Charcoal Diamond, and an indication that the other colors will be getting some improved mana rocks soon enough, probably a few as early as Marvel Super Heroes next year.

#4. Icetill Explorer

Icetill Explorer combines two extremely desireable effects for Commander on one card: The standard Crucible of Worlds effect and Exploration. That's without mentioning how good self-mill is in EDH, which you get for free here.

This insect scout has made a name for itself in Vintage Cube alongside Strip Mine, which you can replicate in Commander, or you can just use it as a value machine for all your landfall and land sacrifice decks.

#3. Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

It'd be very easy to populate this list with banger cards from Avatar: The Last Airbender, the set was just that good.

A scaling Archivist of Oghma with flying caught on pretty quickly. Wan Shi Tong, Librarian looked like a slam dunk the moment it was spoiled, and while it's still fresh off the presses, it's pretty clear Touching Spirit Bird is going to be a mainstay in Commander, for both casual and competitive crowds. There's just so much library searching in EDH, whether from tutors, fetch lands, or forced searchs off cards like Field of Ruin. Even better, Wan Shi Tong can actually end games via combat, something blue decks full of card draw can sometimes struggle to do.

#2. Redirect Lightning

Redirect Lightning is another standout staple from the set. This is no Deflecting Swat, but these redirects have proven their worth in Commander, and Redirect Lightning's now the second-best version. I've always been a fan of Bolt Bend as a budget Swat, but it seems pretty clear Redirect Lightning's bringing the thunder. I went more in-depth on the card here, if you want a longer analysis.

#1. Badgermole Cub

Badgermole Cub is so painfully obvious it almost doesn't warrant any conversation. It's solid on its own, and actively broken when combined with basically any other mana dorks. Experimenting with mana doubling on a 2-drop is dangerous territory, and I find it unwise that this card was printed as it is.

It's another Avatar card, so still fairly new, but I'd expect this to show up a lot in 2026 and beyond, especially if it flops in Constructed and the price ever settles down. This is my easy pick for the best card printed this year, and that's not just for Commander.